Deferrable elective surgeries are being postponed at Southland and Dunedin Hospitals until after Christmas to make room for increasing demand from the emergency department. 

The Southern District Health Board was told at a meeting on Monday (December 21) there were not enough beds to go around, posing an ongoing issue when scheduling elective surgeries.

In the report discussed at the meeting, executive director of specialist services Patrick Ng said the extent of the bed access issues continues to be a “bit of a puzzle,” for the board.

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Bed access challenges had led to full emergency departments, particularly in Southland, putting “enormous pressure on the system and our staff,” he said.

The board has collectively agreed to postpone deferrable elective surgery in the lead up to Christmas.

It expects that this will impact its elective surgical target.

Mr Ng said other factors were contributing to the bed shortage but these needed to be investigated further. 

Admissions and discharges were down slightly year on year, length of stay was higher year on year and occupancy was up marginally, the report to the board said. 

“Other DHBs are also reporting higher length of stay and that this is putting pressure on both elective surgical delivery and beds in hospitals,” Mr Ng said.

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One issue that has been identified anecdotally is access to aged residential care beds, he said.

To understand this phenomenon better, a comprehensive analysis was required, he said. 

The board's chief executive, Chris Fleming, has tasked a cross directorate team to analyse and develop an understanding of what is occurring, Mr Ng said.

“We look forward to understanding the challenges better – the sooner we can take positive steps towards addressing them the sooner we can improve the rate at which we can complete our surgeries, and work to reduce the pressures being experienced by our staff,” Mr Ng said.