Some chronic nasal conditions will have to be treated by GPs because the Southern District Health Board's ear, nose, and throat department cannot cope with demand, service clinical leader Jamie Ryan says.
Last week, the DHB warned GPs in a monthly newsletter to stop referring some semi-urgent conditions to specialist services, including chronic tonsilitis, and some cases of sinusitis and septal deviation.
"We're receiving a lot more referrals than we're able to deal with."
The service was referring 10 to 20 cases back to GPs a month.
"It's difficult because [some conditions] effectively have to be managed in the community at the moment. It may be they require in the case of [chronic] tonsilitis, courses of antibiotics from time to time."
Overloading the service was an increase in skin cancer cases, which had doubled in the past decade due to an ageing population, Mr Ryan said.
The service needed to be reorganised to better manage skin cancer cases.
In the interim, the situation was stable, although he stressed staff were trying to treat as many patients as possible.
"We've had to draw the line somewhere.
"We want [GPs] to be aware that many of these conditions can't be treated, so patients have realistic expectations."
He acknowledged the situation could prompt some patients to seek private treatment, but said many did not have the financial means.
Non-urgent conditions that would not be treated included snoring, benign skin lesions, and most cases of vertigo.
Urgent conditions that would still be treated within the mandatory six-month timeframe included skin cancer, head and neck cancer, children's ear infections and tonsilitis, plus serious adult sinusitis.
Mr Ryan said the situation was better than six months ago, when all semi-urgent cases were referred back to GPs, because at that time the service was equalising waiting lists across the district, including addressing a backlog in Southland.
