\u201cThey are so incredibly under-resourced,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In the past fortnight, a surge of influenza A cases has rapidly overloaded the health system, sparking widespread concerns after a relatively mild start to winter.<\/p>\n
Covid health measures have been reinstated in GP clinics with phone-first triaging and respiratory patients being separated from normal patients.<\/p>\n
Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners president Dr Luke Bradford said not all winter illnesses being seen were influenza A, and that people were also suffering from other respiratory tract infections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis one is later than usual and is more impactful than we\u2019ve seen for the last few years but doesn\u2019t show a particular systemic issue in the health system. The key with the winter virus season is to try to stop people from spreading it and protecting the vulnerable,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A Middlemore nurse, who the Herald agreed not to name, said the hospital was receiving so many influenza patients staff were placing more beds than usual in corridors, and an emergency trolley of oxygen was available to those patients waiting for a bed.<\/p>\n
The severity of the sickness didn\u2019t seem markedly different from previous winters, she said, but it was worse for nurses because there were more patients and less capacity.<\/p>\n
An Auckland Hospital doctor recently spoke out about near-constant overcrowding in the emergency department<\/a> leaving staff demoralised and putting patients at risk.<\/p>\n Auckland Hospital emergency physician Dr Mike Nicholls told RNZ the emergency department was the canary in the coalmine.<\/p>\n \u201cThe emergency department is part of a complex healthcare system and it\u2019s a useful way of looking at the healthcare system in total, because often when things aren\u2019t going well in other parts of the healthcare system, we see that in the emergency department,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cOvercrowding in emergency departments is associated with increased harm for patients, including increased death. An escalation pathway is there to get everyone on the same page that we\u2019re in a really risky situation.\u201d<\/p>\n In response to questions from the Herald, Health NZ referred to previous communication from Chief Executive Dr Dale Bramley encouraging the public to explore alternative options to hospital \u2013 unless they were experiencing an emergency.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are here when people need us and we have also invested in many other ways of supporting people to get the right care they need,\u201d Dr Bramley said.<\/p>\n Community pharmacies, Healthline and Online GP services would allow emergency department teams around the country to focus on those who most needed care, he said.<\/p>\n Papatoetoe Family Doctors\u2019 Dr Karl Cole said he had seen 22 patients in just four hours one morning, with about half being flu-related. Typically, he would see about 12 patients in that same timeframe.<\/p>\n His practice was prepared for the winter spike, he said, and was accustomed to fitting people in who would otherwise have been sent to the emergency department. A high proportion of same-day appointments were kept free to accommodate these patients, but it was impossible to maintain this long term.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can only do it so long before you burn out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Cole said the issue was that patients who needed to see their doctor for continuity of care couldn\u2019t get access because the practice had to pivot its operating model to handle the surge in cases.<\/p>\n In April, the Government announced community pharmacies would be able to directly prescribe some common funded medicines for children and increased the number of clinical services they could provide.<\/p>\n Bramley said this helped people access care closer to home, \u201cfreeing up capacity across the wider health system\u201d. He said online GP services were also seeing a strong uptake.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the Weekend Herald reported GPs were divided on the continuing push towards online care as it raised concerns for patients being able to have regular consultations by a trusted doctor and receiving adequate physical examinations.<\/p>\n Cole said having prior knowledge of a patient when assessing flu symptoms was extremely helpful as it could help a doctor pick up on small things like their demeanour – whether they were typically laughing or joking – and subtle signs that they may be severely unwell.<\/p>\n There are complications associated with influenza that often cause hospitalisations. What starts as a bad flu for some patients can spiral into severe illness, such as pneumonia, which is more common in vulnerable and elderly patients.<\/p>\n Bradford said the cost of healthcare was always an issue, and may cause patients to delay seeking help from their GP.<\/p>\n These patients were more likely to end up in emergency departments which increased pressure on hospitals.<\/p>\n Within the practice population of Papatoetoe Family Doctors, 80% of patients fell into the lowest 20% bracket of national income, Cole said.<\/p>\n As a Very Low-Cost Access practice, appointments were free for patients under 14, but Cole had noticed parents were asking for prescriptions of Panadol because it was cheaper than buying it in the supermarket and this highlighted the cost pressures families were facing.<\/p>\n