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Simon Rogers / RNZ
The children’s area in the new Christchurch Hospital emergency department will not open as a result of financial constraints and understaffing.
The decision not to open parts of Christchurch Hospital’s new emergency department (ED) due to financial constraints has been labeled “beyond embarrassing.”
Andy Dickerson, a member of the Canterbury District Board of Health, said the decision was “completely inappropriate,” but outgoing CEO David Meates said it would not result in a reduction in services or staff.
“As it is, I want to emphasize that the same staff will provide the same care in the new ED when they move in. We are not reducing staff, nor are we reducing services, ”Meates said.
Confirmed a request from the ED clinical director for 11.8 full-time nurse equivalents (FTE) and 5.5 FTE administration employees for a separate children’s area and observation unit in the new ED that was rejected by the management team.
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The decision was part of the $ 56.9 million savings proposal in the 2020-21 annual plan approved by the board on August 20. Staff were informed in July.
Meates said children would be treated in the emergency department, sometimes alongside adult patients as they are now, and “I recognize this is far from ideal.”
JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON / Stuff
Canterbury Board of Health Chief David Meates was fired from the Honor Guard in his last week on the job.
Dickerson believed the decision was “beyond embarrassing” and “completely inappropriate.”
“In particular, evaluating children around adult patients who may be intoxicated, or under the influence of drugs, or have an acute mental health episode.”
The ER’s Acting Clinical Director, Dr. Mark Gilbert, said that while there would be no reduction in children’s services, the same could not be said for the ER’s observation unit.
The unit was a separate emergency area, which has 12 beds, where patients could be monitored for a longer period of time while they awaited tests or other research results.
They treat about 700-750 people a month, or 25 patients a day in the unit.
ALDEN WILLIAMS / Stuff
Canterbury Health Board Chairman Sir John Hansen said the board had been assured that a cost reduction proposal would not result in a reduction in health services.
In the new facility, those patients would have to stay in the acute emergency room and there would be a reduced capacity, with six beds during the day and eight at night reserved for them.
“Probably the largest group of patients would be the elderly and we also admit a lot of mental health patients,” Gilbert said.
The unit allowed an earlier evaluation of the patients and the support so that they avoided a hospital admission and were cared for at home.
“With mental health patients, they are often agitated when they first arrive in the emergency room and what they need is a calm environment and clearly the acute capsules of erectile dysfunction are anything but calm, so the patient group it will be adversely affected. “
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
Christchurch Hospital Hagley will be the largest hospital building on the South Island and will house many of Canterbury DHB’s acute services. It is scheduled to open to patients in November.
Gilbert said they would have to admit more patients to the hospital without the dedicated area and reduced capacity.
The number of patients would not increase with the move to a new hospital, but the larger size and layout of the new building required additional staff.
“Nurses work in teams of two, so you can’t have a nurse in one area, even if the number of patients justifies one.”
Gilbert said having a separate children’s area was considered best practice, but had not been provided in the current apartment due to lack of space.
The Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), Sarah Dalton, said claims by Crown’s supervisor and the chairman of the board that services would not be reduced as a result of the savings plan were “puzzling.”
