Pressure on the Dunedin Hospital intensive care unit remains but stress is easing in other parts of the hospital, acting chief medical officer Dick Bunton says.
Elective surgery went ahead yesterday.
The previous day, most elective surgery was postponed because the hospital was not coping with the number of urgent and emergency patients.
However, an urgent cardiac operation had to be put off yesterday because of bed pressure in ICU, where post-operative cardiac patients recover.
Staff absences from illness contributed to the situation in ICU.
Hospital occupancy had dropped back to 95%. Earlier this week, it was more than 100%.
‘‘Today was better than yesterday, and hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better than today,'' Mr Bunton said.
