Figures released to National Party health spokesman Dr Shane Reti revealed several thousand procedures were deferred across New Zealand because of the lockdown.
Most of those were in the areas where lockdowns have been in place the longest, such as Auckland and Waikato.
However, Southern ranked second in planned care outpatient cancellations (195) and sixth of 20 DHBs in other outpatient cancellations.
‘‘Cancellations at Southern DHB show we are ranked at about 8th out of all DHBs,’’ chief operating officer Hamish Brown said.
‘‘While this suggests we are not an outlier, we regret the need for any cancellations and recognise the disruption and difficulty this causes our patients whenever this occurs.’’
Last year, during the lengthy first Level 4 period, almost all surgery and outpatient appointments were deferred, a halting of activity which resulted in the SDHB carrying out 5.5% less planned surgery than budgeted.
THE August Alert Level 4 lockdown caused the Southern District Health Board to cancel or postpone 3400 appointments and operations.
Figures released to National Party health spokesman Dr Shane Reti revealed several thousand procedures were deferred across New Zealand because of the lockdown.
Most of those were in the areas where lockdowns have been in place the longest, such as Auckland and Waikato.
However, Southern ranked second in planned care outpatient cancellations (195) and sixth of 20 DHBs in other outpatient cancellations.
‘‘Cancellations at Southern DHB show we are ranked at about 8th out of all DHBs,’’ chief operating officer Hamish Brown said.
‘‘While this suggests we are not an outlier, we regret the need for any cancellations and recognise the disruption and difficulty this causes our patients whenever this occurs.’’
Last year, during the lengthy first Level 4 period, almost all surgery and outpatient appointments were deferred, a halting of activity which resulted in the SDHB carrying out 5.5% less planned surgery than budgeted.
The SDHB has been attempting to catch up on its backlog of procedures ever since, waiting lists which were augmented by the August lockdown.
Mr Brown said several factors were affecting the SDHB’s progress in catching up on those operations, which included workforce availability.
‘‘We continue to focus on ways to maintain service delivery in the context of these pressures.’’
The SDHB has been attempting to catch up on its backlog of procedures ever since, waiting lists which were augmented by the August lockdown.
Mr Brown said several factors were affecting the SDHB’s progress in catching up on those operations, which included workforce availability.
‘‘We continue to focus on ways to maintain service delivery in the context of these pressures.’’
