The postponed surgeries add to the delays that have already occurred this month, with the hospital warning people of increased ED waiting times and the prioritising of urgent cases due to staff shortages and illness.
Messages to staff provided to the Otago Daily Times show the hospital was at level
red for "extreme overload" last Wednesday and Thursday, with occupancy exceeding 100%.
The messages show the majority of planned care was stopped on Wednesday, and an escalation plan was "now at full implementation".
Hospital general manager Craig Ashton said yesterday some postponements were due to the urgent needs of critically ill patients, while others were due to patient and staff illness.
"This is not an isolated issue in the southern region, as many hospitals throughout the country are experiencing similar pressures," he said.
"The backlog recovery for planned care is a multi-year programme of work across the country."
Last October, Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand released its "reset and restore plan" aimed at reducing waiting lists for planned care.
Sixteen of the 101 recommendations were under way, he said.
These covered a range of areas, many aimed at creating regionally or nationally unified approaches.
For example, HNZ was working to establish a single radiology network, create a nationally consistent approach to the clinical scoring system, and pool resources within regions to outsource patients where possible and move teams between sites to use available theatre capacity.
Meanwhile, planning had begun for the implementation of 47 other recommendations focusing on aspects such as primary and community, and outpatient management, Mr Ashton said.
"We know that planned care being deferred is distressing and frustrating for patients who are waiting."
HNZ Southern did not answer questioning about the number of staffed beds and what days were categorised as level red by deadline yesterday.
