Concerned medicine specialists say the patients may not be so unwell that they need to be in hospital, but may not be well enough to be sent home alone. The ditched pensioners can consume hospital staff time by having to remain in an observation area for many hours.
A trainee specialist at Auckland City Hospital highlighted the problem on Twitter yesterday.
"Long weekend = many frail old people conveniently dropped off at hospital without acute medical problems because family going away ...," said Dr Sudhvir Singh, a registrar in general medicine.
Dr Singh declined to comment further when contacted by the Herald.
Grey Power president Terry King said he would be appalled but not surprised if granny dumping was occurring this weekend.
"If there's substance to that allegation, I'm distressed to hear that's happening. I think it's totally irresponsible. It's really difficult to understand families who'd do this sort of thing."
However, a spokeswoman for the Auckland Hospital said its duty manager was unaware of any elderly patients being abandoned there by their family for the weekend.
Waikato Hospital staff have regularly observed granny dumping at the start of long weekends, normal weekends, and in the Christmas holidays. The emergency department's clinical director, Dr John Bonning, yesterday spoke of one case reported to him that stood out in the last summer holidays.
"In January someone was driven up in a nice, flash car and [the person accompanying her said], 'We are going away and here's Granny'. She may have had minor medical ailments, but they weren't very significant.
"We look after these people. We are never frustrated and disappointed with the elderly," Dr Bonning said.
"Certainly there's a lot of elderly people being brought in where you think this has been coming on for the last month or six weeks and you say to the family, 'Have you started thinking about nursing homes' and they stare at you blankly."
Dr Bonning's message to families was to plan ahead around holiday weekends and the approaching Christmas period.
Medical Association chairman Dr Mark Peterson said he was unconvinced that "granny dumping" occurred in the way it was said to.
"I suspect it's more likely to be due to the perceived unavailability of primary care. It's often easier to take an elderly patient to the emergency department than to an after hours medical clinic when their normal GP is unavailable, which is not unexpected at a long weekend."
He acknowledged high fees after hours could turn people towards EDs, which are free for patients.
"The subsidy system that we have at the moment doesn't work particularly well for after-hours consultations," said Dr Peterson, a GP in Hawkes Bay.
After-hours arrangements vary around the country. At Auckland's 11 after-hours clinics, patients aged 65 or older pay $17 to $50 for an after-hours medical consultation if they are enrolled with an Auckland GP, have a community services card or a high-user health card, or live in a low-income area. Otherwise they face charges ranging from $17 to $97.
Labour health spokeswoman Ruth Dyson said granny dumping was disgusting and also unnecessary, as several agencies offered free help to families unable to look after elderly relatives.
There was also a risk frail, elderly people dumped at hospitals would be promptly discharged and sent home by themselves, she said.
By Martin Johnston of the New Zealand Herald and John Weekes of NZME. News Service
