Demand for Dunedin Hospital orthopaedic appointments means referrals for routine conditions are no longer being accepted.
At the end of January, patients considered to have urgent conditions were waiting four weeks for a first specialist appointment and non-urgent patients 24 weeks.
Those considered routine were not being seen, joining three other specialties unable to accept routine referrals: rheumatology, ear nose and throat and ophthalmology.
There has been concern for some time about the number of orthopaedic referrals, with the hospital advising early last year most routine referrals would be returned to GPs.
This would include such conditions as ganglion cysts, carpal tunnel, knee and shoulder pain and bunions. It was advised then that the department was receiving 200 referrals a month for only 90 appointments.
In a report to the Southern District Health Board's hospitals' advisory committee, the emergency medicine and surgery group advised it was liaising with the board planning and funding team to assess the level of service provided in Otago and whether there should be a plan to increase access.
This would depend on whether access in Otago was restricted compared with other regions across New Zealand, the report said.
The report also shows the hospital is still struggling to meet its target of 800 colonoscopies this financial year and by the end of January was 81 below where it should have been.
"Although we are exploring ways we could increase these volumes by extra scheduled work for our current staff, external provision may be the only solution," the report said.
