Coast DHB surgery catchup in Christchurch
From local democracy reporter Brendon McMahon:
Additional orthopaedic operations for West Coast residents have been carried out in private hospitals in Christchurch in the past month, as Greymouth hospital attempts to reduce waiting times exacerbated by Covid-19.
An update to the West Coast District Health Board advisory group said additional Ministry of Health funding had enabled additional hip and knee joint surgeries privately during May and into June, to reduce some of the longer waiting times at Te Nikau Hospital in Greymouth, particularly in orthopaedics.
Additional plastic surgery bookings had also been secured with the extra funding.
The waiting list for plastic surgery first specialist assessments had reduced from 68 patients in February to 14 in May.
The plastics surgical waiting list had benefited as well with 39 patients currently waiting, 26 of whom had surgery booked in June.
West Coast DHB general manager Philip Wheble said 35 major joint operations had been done off the West Coast.
While the extra plastic surgeries would significantly reduce the long wait time, for orthopaedics there would still be people on the waiting list over the time limit.
"The impact of the Covid-19 lockdown and distancing restrictions in August and September 2021, and again from February 2022 onward have influenced our results," Wheble said in an update.
"General surgery, paediatric surgery and urology are on year to date delivery targets, but there have been fewer elective cases able to be delivered in the disciplines of cardiothoracic, ear nose and throat, gynaecology, ophthalmology, orthopaedics, plastics and vascular surgery."
The West Coast DHB had 165 patients waiting over 120 days for their first outpatient specialist assessment at the end of March -- 107 orthopaedic cases, along with plastics (22), urology (17), rheumatology (8), cardiology (6), respiratory (4) and general medicine (1).
Telehealth had been used wherever possible for specialist assessments.
There were 101 Coast patients waiting over 120 days from their first surgical assessment until surgical treatment, at the end of March, spread across orthopeadics (75), urology (10), plastics (8), dental surgery (5), opathalmology (2), and paediatric surgery (1).
Addictive Eaters Anonymous
What is Addictive Eaters Anonymous?
Addictive Eaters Anonymous (AEA) is a fellowship of men and women who share their experience, strength and hope with each other that they may solve their common problem and help others to recover from addictive eating.
AEA has members who have suffered from anorexia, bulimia and binge eating. Many have been underweight, overweight or obese; others were people of average weight yet suffered with an obsession with food. Members may have used exercise and other substances to try and control their weight. Before coming to AEA, members found that they were powerless over food, and unable to stop the food obsession.
Live Q&A: Garden maintenance with Crewcut
This Wednesday, we're having another Neighbourly Q&A session. This time with John Bracewell from Crewcut.
John Bracewell, former Black Caps coach turned Franchisee Development Manager and currently the face of Crewcut’s #Movember campaign, knows a thing or two about keeping the grass looking sharp—whether it’s on a cricket pitch or in your backyard!
As a seasoned Crewcut franchisee, John is excited to answer your lawn and gardening questions. After years of perfecting the greens on the field, he's ready to share tips on how to knock your garden out of the park. Let's just say he’s as passionate about lush lawns as he is about a good game of cricket!
John is happy to answer questions about lawn mowing, tree/hedge trimming, tidying your garden, ride on mowing, you name it! He'll be online on Wednesday, 27th of November to answer them all.
Share your question below now ⬇️
Poll: When should the tree go up? 🎄
From what we've heard, some Christmas trees are already being assembled and decorated.
What are your thoughts on the best time to get your Christmas tree up?
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4.6% Second half of November
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43.5% 1st December
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17.5% A week before Christmas
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33.3% Whenever you wish
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1.1% Other - I'll share below
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