Ban on Chch heart patients delayed

Press, 25 February 1981, Page 3

Ban on Chch heart patients delayed

Health reporter .... The,- ban - on,- Christchurch heart patients ; being.;s,ent to Wellington for surgery has been delayed, but it will still be imposed. . •. In November the Wellington Hospital Board imposed a three-month deadline on accepting any .more heart surgery . patients from Christchurch..Thisi ban:;was supposed to start tomorrow. Wellington: Hospital Hoard authorities said late last year that the demands of ■ “catchment” area' for) : heart surgery patients — the .lower half of the-'North Island, and Nelson and Marlborough — had .to be met. This meant that patients from Christchurch would have’to be excluded. Dr M. J. Nicolson, the chairman of the Wellington Hospital Board, said yesterday that his board’s attitude

had not changed although it was. prepared to accept a reqiiest from the North Canterbury Hospital Board that the ban be delayed. “We still intend to impose this ban, however. We cannot be overloaded — it is as simple as that. If we are to take more (heat ) patients then we will need more finance to cope,” he said. Dr Nicholson said it was the responsibility of the Minister of Health (Mr Gair) to promote any plan that might eventuate in the ban’s being lifted altogether. The final report of the Hospitals Advisory Committee on the medical audit of New Zealand’s three heart surgery units, due in April, was given by Dr Nicholson las one important factor in jhis board’s future decisions jon the use of the Wellington ‘heart unit.

“When this is released it may throw new light on the issues involved,” he said. The Auckland Hospital Board • has not imposed a ban on heart patients from Christchurch using the Auckland heart unit. In December the chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board (Dr F. W. Rutter) said extra pressures on the Auckland unit could cause problems, particularly if Christchurch patients were not sent to the Dunedin heart unit. Dr Rutter said while there was no board policy to exclude patients from any part of New Zealand, patients should always be referred to the unit nearest to their home. ‘ There ma\- be, however, clinical situations that require them to go to units further afield.”