Dunedin Hospital is feeling the pressure after a spike in the number of patients with flu-like symptoms filling beds, it has been confirmed.
Southern District Health Board chief executive Carole Heatly said hospital staff had been ''extremely busy'' in July, as most hospital beds were taken by patients with respiratory problems and flu-like symptoms.
An extra 243 patients had presented at the hospital's Emergency Department so far this month compared with the same time last year, she said.
That included an extra 20 people a day presenting at the hospital's ED since last Monday, on top of the usual 120 who did so each day, she said.
Hospital staff had coped ''really well'' while implementing a winter plan to accommodate the influx, she said.
That saw additional beds opened up in parts of the hospital, including a short-stay inpatient unit on the seventh floor, she said.
Despite that, the hospital's ability to meet the Emergency Department six-hour health target - moving patients through ED within that time - had slipped from 94% in the April-June quarter to 84% in the past week, she said.
The short-stay unit would remain open until the end of September to accommodate the number of patients presenting with winter illnesses.
