A retired local nurse welcomes the government’s funding boost for district healthcare services as she considers Queenstown’s Lakes District Hospital’s (LDH) ‘‘woefully under-resourced’’.
Arguing it’s only held together by its ‘‘amazing’’ staff, Pam Shaw notes it served a population of 4500 when it opened in 1989, compared with 50,000-plus residents today and even more daily visitors.
Shaw, who worked there on and off for 20 years before retiring in February, is also a trustee of the Southern Lakes Health Trust which convinced the government to make its commitment this month.
‘‘When I started in the emergency department (ED), you might get one or two people a night, now we’re getting 10 to 20 people a night, 80 people a day, 20,000 presentations a year.’’
Yet ED still had only eight beds and two resuscitation beds, and it’s hard to supplement with general ward beds due to the narrow corridors, she says.
Shaw notes X-ray and admin staff go home at 9pm, meaning X-ray staff frequently have to be called back, while one nurse is taken off the frontline to handle admin.
For blood tests, she says there’s a limited i-STAT machine, but otherwise bloods are sent to Awanui’s Frankton lab — ‘‘all night, they’re calling the lab in’’.
In announcing its $180 million funding boost for Queenstown-Lakes and Central Otago, the government promised an expansion of the hospital’s ED ‘‘within the next six to eight months’’.
Shaw is unhappy with the current nursing staff shortage — Health NZ’s told Mountain Scene it’s recruiting for four nurses but won’t be at full capacity till August. She feels it’s more likely they’re six to eight nurses down — ‘‘they’re not being given the OK to replace staff’’. In Shaw’s view, the only solution is a replacement hospital. The government’s laying a ‘‘future pathway’’ towards a general hospital somewhere in the region.
Shaw’s adamant that should be built in Queenstown.
