A new operating theatre opening next week at Dunedin Hospital should reduce waiting times for elective surgery, the Southern District Health Board says.
Surgical general manager Lynley Irvine said work on the ninth theatre would finish next Tuesday, and the first surgery would be carried out two days later, subject to routine checks.
''This is a significant boost to the DHB's surgical capacity as we work to reduce the waiting times for elective procedures,'' Ms Irvine said.
A report to the board's hospital advisory committee today says the two-month delay in commissioning the theatre was partly responsible for elective surgery delays.
In March, 114 patients waited more than six months for their procedure, having been promised it, up from 63 the previous month.
The number of patients in March waiting more than six months for a first specialist appointment was unavailable.
A tightening of the targets at the end of next month means patients should wait no more than five months for a first appointment, or for surgery.
The report said ''detailed recovery plans'' had been developed to ensure the five-month targets were met.
A decision to keep surgery in-house rather than outsourcing some of it, and a heavy demand placed by acute surgery, were also responsible for increased waiting times, the report said.
Routine imaging wait times at Dunedin Hospital remained high, despite efforts to reduce them, including weekend MRI clinics, encouraging patients to go to Invercargill, outsourcing some work to Otago Radiology, and funding Oamaru Hospital to perform CT scans for local patients.
Patients were waiting 35 weeks for routine MRI, 40 weeks for routine CT, and 26-30 weeks for routine ultrasound. The board had opened talks with staff over increasing the running times of the MRI and CT machines.
A recently installed ultrasound machine was expected to reduce waiting times for that procedure.
