Health NZ insists that cardio problems at Palmerston North Hospital are over

Palmerston North Hospital, Manawatū.
Photo: Jimmy Ellingham, RNZ

Health NZ says that hiring three senior doctors will alleviate pressure at the Palmeston North Hospital Cardiology clinic.

But a patient defense group says there are still concerns about the number of people being forced to waiting lists.

The patient’s Malcolm Mulholland, Voice Aotearoa, raised concerns about the clinic when he recently declined a nomination for a check-up ultrasound for a man who had a triple heart deviation.

NZ Health’s director of operations for Central Sarah Fenwick said authorities have accepted that there was a period of “reduced clinical capacity due to labor force restrictions from March 2024 to March 2025”.

“This has now been resolved through additional employees, including three senior medical officers,” she said. “During the reduced operational period, we were only able to accept references that had been screened and determined by a cardiac expert as urgent.”

Clinic numbers ranged from week to week, said Fenwick. There were currently four to five per week, with five commitments each, and the number would increase from May.

Patient’s voice Malcolm Mulholland from Aotearoa.
Photo: Stuff / David Unwin

“In general, we received approximately 60 cardiology referrals per week, with approximately seven declined each week.”

These numbers meant that 20 to 25 patients were treated at the clinic a week, while the rest was placed on a waiting list.

A few weeks between March 2024 and March this year would mean that more than 30 people were added to the list, a figure concerning Mulholland.

“We know that from March 2024 to March 2025, they are at least 1000 background appointments. Even with greater cardiology, there is still some backlog to get rid of, and trying to keep up with the demand they face.”

Palmerston North Hospital had recently recommended patients who were programmed for surveillance colonopia that the service was paused due to pressure at the Gastro clinic, although it began to do some procedures.

Mulholland said patients with cardiology deserve the same level of transparency if similar problems arise.

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