|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
| SEARCH | SUBSCRIBE | ||
Support Global Action on Aging!
|
 |
By
Mike Crean New
Zealand - The elderly on hospital waiting lists are in fear of hearing
from the Canterbury District Health Board. Age
Concern Canterbury chief executive Andrew Dickerson said the announcement
that 7200 people would be cut from waiting lists had caused stress among
the elderly. This
was because the letters advising them of their status had not yet been
sent. "Older
people are over-represented in most waiting lists," Mr Dickerson
said. "There's a lot of anxiety amongst them." Some
were on more than one list and could receive more than one letter. Some
were wondering if one sort of surgery would be stopped if they were cut
from the list for another sort which needed to be done first. While
Age Concern had known the health board was to refer many patients back to
GPs, the number announced on Tuesday had come as a shock, Mr Dickerson
said. "Discharging
this many people from waiting lists is unprecedented. What's even more
chilling is that there are a number of other waiting lists, such as
general surgery, urology, and plastics, that hardly feature in the figures
yet. I'm expecting the numbers discharged to climb even higher." The
public health sector's apparent withdrawal from elective surgery to focus
on acute, life-threatening conditions was devastating to many older people
waiting for joint replacement or cataract surgery, Mr Dickerson said. Age
Concern was working hard to support people staying in their own homes. If
they had declining mobility or could not see properly, this became
increasingly difficult. He
urged the health board to take a regional view of surgery and use
facilities at Burwood, Ashburton, Southern Cross, St George's, Oxford
Clinic, and the mobile surgical unit, as well as Christchurch Hospital. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
|
