Hospitals were overflowing well before flu cases peaked, data reveals

Hospitals were overflowing well before flu cases reached their peak, newly released data shows. Health NZ released a snapshot of the occupancy rates of eight hospitals at 8am over eight days in mid August. It showed most had more patients than staffed beds. Christchurch Hospital was worst hit - with nearly a fifth more patients than beds most days. Whangārei was usually at about 110 percent capacity, with Waikato just under. Auckland and Wellington were regularly over 100 percent, with North Shore and Waitākere between 103 and 93 percent. The figures covered 7 to 14 August, excluding the weekend. Flu hospitalisations were increasing that week but have grown to record numbers since then, prompting many hospitals to cut elective surgeries and set up dedicated flu wards. Health NZ said emergency department presentations began to drop off in the second half of August but were still very high. RNZ / Nate McKinnon Health NZ said hospital occupancy was measured as the percentage of staffed bed capacity at a point in time and could fluctuate throughout the day. When hospitals were over 100 percent occupancy, they used so-called flex beds - beds which were available only for very busy times and were not included in official occupancy counts. The figures in this story are several weeks old because it took that long for Health NZ to provide them. Health NZ said it could not give an update on hospital occupancy on Tuesday. However it said, nationally, emergency department presentations began to drop off in the second half of August but were still very high. It could not immediately give data for ED presentations for individual hospitals, a spokesperson said. Emergency department doctors and nurses have told RNZ there was a lot of variation from hospital to hospital. RNZ requested the hospital occupancy rates after it was revealed last month some ambulance patients in the North Shore rohe were being diverted to Whangārei Hospital. It asked for the rates for those two hospitals, as well as for Waitakere, Auckland City, Waikato, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. Health NZ said it could not give the rates straight away and put the request through its Official Information Act process which took three weeks. Of the hospitals in the request, only Dunedin Hospital never hit 100 percent.