Hospital waiting lists ‘horrific’
By SARAH SANDS Waiting lists for surgery and outpatient clinics in Canterbury’s public hospitals were horrific, the Canterbury Hospital Board health services committee was told yesterday. A board member, Mrs Joyce Mclver, was commenting on the quarterly statistics which showed that 4992 people were waiting for surgery. Of these, 1302 have waited between three and six months, 851 have waited between six months and a year, 1066 have waited between one and two years, and 424 have waited more than two years. “This is very depressing when you look away from- finance and look at people for a change,” Mrs Mclver said. “People waiting this time are de-
pressed, their attitude to life is demoralised and it looks from today’s statistics as if the waiting lists are worse than usual.” Of those on the waiting list, 729 are waiting for general surgery, 1142 for orthopaedic surgery, 657 for ear, nose and throat surgery, 506 for opthalmology, 639 for sterilisations, 480 for urology and 422 for plastic surgery. Estimated waiting times for new outpatients clinic appointments include: ear, nose and throat, 60 weeks; eyes, 36 weeks; gastroenterology, 12 weeks; genito-urin-ary, 36 weeks; neurology, 20 weeks; pain clinic, 12 weeks; plastic, 24 weeks; rheumatology, 30 weeks; skin, 48 weeks; and surgical, 16 weeks. At Christchurch Women’s Hospital the
waiting times for appointments include: urgent gynaecology, 4 weeks; non-urgent gynaecology, 32 weeks; sterilisations, 40 weeks; infertility, 16 weeks; urgent colposcopy, 4 weeks; and non-urgent colposcopy, 32 weeks. The acting manager for patient care, Dr Ross Fairgray, said it must be remembered that waiting lists were not static. In the quarter ended March 31 this year, more than 2000 patients on the waiting list had been treated. The chairman of the Hospital Board, Mr Tom Grigg, said the slow Christmas period and the strike in February by health workers had compounded the problem.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19890511.2.10
Bibliographic details
Press, 11 May 1989, Page 1
Word Count
313Hospital waiting lists ‘horrific’ Press, 11 May 1989, Page 1
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Press. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Copyright in all Footrot Flats cartoons is owned by Diogenes Designs Ltd. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise these cartoons and make them available online as part of this digitised version of the Press. You can search, browse, and print Footrot Flats cartoons for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from Diogenes Designs Ltd for any other use.
Acknowledgements
This newspaper was digitised in partnership with Christchurch City Libraries.