When Covid-19 first shut down New Zealand with the highest level lockdown, most hospital services closed too, which created backlogs in cases which DHBs are still addressing.
During this lockdown the Southern District Health Board has kept oncology treatment going, is providing several services through telehealth, and is considering how to provide more services next week, depending on what changes, if any, are made to the alert level on Friday.
Mercy Hospital chief executive Richard Whitney said the private facility was helping the SDHB take care of priority patients, as required.
The hospital had closed to new admissions once Alert Level 4 was imposed, and had discharged all patients in the facility at 11.59pm last Tuesday by last Friday, he said.
‘‘Prioritised patient admission, aligned to the national hospital framework criteria, commenced from Monday for the remainder of this week, a total of 51 patients.
‘‘This activity included nine public patients, and all patients were classified as having high clinical needs.’’
However, it was not business as normal at Mercy, and surgery was limited to three lists per day.
‘‘Planning for next week is along similar lines to this week,’’ Mr Whitney said.
‘‘Should we move to Level 3, then a fourth theatre would operate from Wednesday onwards, treating approximately 60 patients, which will again include a number of public patients.’’
Mercy Cancer Care had continued to provide its full treatment service without interruption, Mr Whitney said.
