Credit: Original article can be found here
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Te Whatu Ora MidCentral District director Dr Jeff Brown with specialty clinical nurse for vascular access Emma Nash and registered nurse Shipy Skaria check preparations in Palmerston North Hospital’s new endoscopy suite.
Up to 200 heart patients a year from around the MidCentral health district could be spared a trip to Wellington Hospital for stenting procedures from late 2023.
Work has started on setting up a cath lab at Palmerston North Hospital which will enable cardiac interventions to be carried out.
The new facility is part of the Spire project, a $33 million project to improve the capacity and quality of the hospital’s surgical services floor.
The prospect of future patients being able to have the heart procedures closer to home is music to the ears of a recent coronary care patient who asked not to be named.
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The man spent more than a week in the hospital’s coronary care unit after suffering chest pains, and a diagnostic angiogram showed he needed a stent to hold an artery to his heart open.
He said the standard of care at Palmerston North Hospital was first class, but it was frustrating having to wait for treatment when he would rather have been on the road to recovery and looking forward to getting back to work at his small business.
“From the patient’s side, it’s not acceptable. To progress, I have to go to Wellington, and there is a blockage there.”
The man was finally transferred and had his procedure on Wednesday.
The national target was to treat 70% of people with acute coronary syndrome within three days.
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Waiting and recovery rooms for day of surgery patients at Palmerston North Hospital come with the added advantage of natural light.
Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast and Hutt Valley acting chief medical officer Sarah Jackson said there was increasing demand for specialist care, with patients with acute and complex cardiac conditions needing long stays in hospital.
“This increased demand has contributed to an increase in waiting times for some patients transferring from other hospitals to Wellington.
“We acknowledge the distress this may have on those who are awaiting treatment.”
An extra four cardiology beds would be provided in Wellington from early May to help improve out-of-district transfer times.
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Half of Palmerston North Hospital’s surgical floor is a construction zone as two operating theatres and an interventional cardiac procedure room are created.
Te Whatu Ora MidCentral district director Jeff Brown said the development of Palmerston North Hospital’s catheterisation laboratory would enhance the whole central region’s cardiac service network.
“We need more capacity, and it needs to be closer to where people live.”
He and operations executive for acute and elective specialist services Lyn Horgan said people needing stents or angioplasty went on a regional waiting list, and priorities for treatment were set by a multidisciplinary team each day.
Who was seen at Wellington first was decided on need, not post code, Brown said.
Likewise, the new cath lab would not be Palmerston North’s facility, but a regional one.
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Te Whatu Ora MidCentral operations director for acute and elective specialist services Lyn Horgan.
Initially it would take patients from MidCentral and Whanganui, so they would not have to travel to Wellington, but it could also assist with patients from throughout the region when appropriate.
Brown said it would not just be patients who moved, but clinicians as well.
One interventional cardiologist bound for Palmerston North was already working in Wellington, and another had been recruited from Canada.
The key equipment for the new cath lab, a digital subtraction angiography machine, was already in New Zealand.
At the moment about 420 people a year had angiograms, a diagnostic procedure using dye and imaging to locate artery blockages, at Palmerston North Hospital. About 40% of those went on to Wellington for stents. The new facility would enable diagnosis and treatment in one procedure.
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Dr Alberto Ramirez, Surgical Services Clinical Lead at Palmerston North Hospital, is enjoying new facilities.
The first stage of the Spire project was finished in February, providing light, new waiting and recovery areas for patients, new operating theatres and endoscopy procedure rooms.
Two years ago, Surgical Services Clinical Lead Alberto Ramirez described the makeover as “a patch” until a whole new clinical services block could be built.
Now he was describing it as major advance for everybody, with its better changing rooms, tearooms and offices for staff.
When complete, the hospital would have two more operating theatres, up from seven to nine, boosting capacity to treat more patients and reduce waiting times.
He was more optimistic than before that funding for the new $379m building would see it constructed in more like seven years than 15 years.