An oncology nurse who has worked at Nelson Hospital for over 25 years says the shortage of staff, buildings and the lack of bed space is now the worst she has ever seen.
Amanda Field began working at Nelson Hospital as a pediatric nurse in the children’s ward in 1999, which she said she was in a mayor building that was built in the 1960s.
“There was water down the corridor when it rained and these problems didn’t change.
“If you entered the hospital after the rain last weekend, there were towels all over the floor, down the corridors, buckets taking water and recorded windows.”
Field said the team has long raised these issues, but there was simply no “bucket money” for updates or changes, with the long reconstruction of the hospital promised to take care of things.
“In the meantime, nurses are working on the floor with a bathroom that may not wash or cannot wash their hands in a room because the sink does not work.”
Also, Field said there were persistent people’s problems.
“It’s tiring, knowing that you will appear to work with little staff, having to carry this workload and ask yourself that you can take safe care, much less the best care with the result of a patient.”
She said they needed more employees and a better hospital to work with.
“This is not good enough for Nelson, this is not good enough for health professionals and this is not totally good enough for patients what is happening at Nelson Hospital.”
Several unions have joined forces on Saturday to further highlight Nelson Hospital’s problems, with hundreds of people becoming a demonstration organized by New Zealand Nurses Organization, Tōpūtanga Tapui Kaitiaki, Aotearoa, Public Services Association and the Association of Salary Medical Specialists to highlight the need for change.
Community and hospital team members walked the streets around the Nelson Hospital perimeter, appealing to the government for more financing, safe staff numbers and a commitment to build the new hospital.
Longtime concerns around personnel and facilities
In February, the Association of Medical Experts publicly raised concerns about the Nelson Hospital to be forced to operate at an internship without a medical recorder due to lack of personnel problems.
He arrived after a crisis meeting with the regional vice -president of Whatu Ora Health NZ (HNZ), Martin Keogh, in January, where concerns were raised that the scarcity of staffing was endangering patients and doctors.
ASMS Executive Director Sarah Dalton said the people’s problems at Nelson Hospital have been a problem for years and were left unresolved by the administration of DHB Hospital and now HNZ.
Nelson’s deputy, Rachel Boyack, said Nelson’s people deserved a new hospital that was suitable and with resources.
Speaking of Parliament last week, Boyack said Nelson Hospital was old, crumbling and desperately needing replacement.
His office was flooded with people struggling to get the care they needed, with many still waiting to receive the results of the tests they had months ago, further delaying the treatment, she said.
The case of business and the master plan for the hospital’s reconstruction have not yet been disclosed.
“[The government] Need to listen to people on the ground, rebuild Nelson Hospital as if promised and not keep maintaining the case of business in defense of the minister’s table. “
Various challenges
HNZ said senior doctors were sent to Nelson to learn more about the hospital’s problems.
Clinical director Richard Sullivan said he was focused on five areas: patient safety, workforce numbers, capacity and waiting, infrastructure and emergency department.
The intention was then collecting team collected information and releasing a series of recommendations.
During his time in Nelson, he said frustration among employees, especially senior doctors, was clear.
“There is no doubt that some of the facilities definitely need significant improvements and some reconstruction and there is no doubt that the number of beds is a challenge.”
He said the infrastructure problems took time to correct, but there were huge opportunities to make changes in the way care were provided.
There was a chance that some more vulnerable services in Nelson, such as the only vascular surgeon and orthopedic spinal surgeon, may need to become part of a service across the south of the island to ensure continuity of care.
Sullivan said senior doctors probably made several recommendations to the Nelson Hospital and that he expected the first one to be done in the coming weeks, but would probably take months before a report with formal recommendations was released.
