General surgeon Adrian Secker performing one of the increasing number of theatre operations at Nelson Hospital last week. Photo: Sinead Ogilvie.

Nelson Hospital operations top 10,000

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It’s been a busy year for Nelson Hospital with more than 25,300 people showing up for emergency treatment alone.

Operation numbers are also on the rise with more elective surgeries performed at the hospital in 2012 compared to the previous year.

Statistics from the past 12 months, released to Nelson Weekly last week, suggest things aren’t going to slow down any time soon either, with admissions into the hospital up on 2011 by 701, with a total of 18,452 people checking in.

The past year included a higher number of procedures performed in theatre, with an average of 28 operations performed at the hospital each day during the year.

While cataract procedures were down, more people left the hospital with new  hips, knees and shoulders, with the number of replacements carried out up by 33 to 377.

The only department to catch a break during 2012 was the maternity ward, who saw a decrease in the number of births recorded, with just 875 babies born at the hospital – a number that contributed to the lowest ever amount of births for the top of the south in five years.

Nelson Marlborough district health board chief executive Chris Fleming says over the last year the DHB has concentrated on getting all patients seen within five months for both outpatient appointments and elective surgery while keeping costs within budget.

“[But] during the year we increased the number of outpatient appointments, procedures in our theatre, elective admissions and the total number of admissions.”

The Nelson Marlborough District Health Board emergency departments – based in Nelson and Blenheim – treated 46,690 people versus 46,112 in 2011, a 578 person increase.

The majority of the increase in traffic occured in Blenheim but there were still rising numbers in Nelson.

Chris says the DHB is working with GPs, Primary Health Organisations and St John to find community solutions to reverse the trend and to educate people about the appropriate use of the emergency department.

“Emergency departments should be for seriously ill or seriously injured people, all other conditions can be treated in GP practices and after hours medical centres,” he says.

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