Swine flu cases push hospital to crisis point | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

Sickness has smashed the region this week, causing a near overflow at Tauranga Hospital and pushing confirmed swine flu cases to record highs this year.

As at Sunday, there were 51 confirmed Bay of Plenty swine flu cases and, on Monday afternoon, crisis plans were almost actioned when Tauranga Hospital's emergency department was  swamped.

The influx of people presenting with minor injuries, influenza symptoms and non-emergency aches and pains caused a "brief period" when contingency plans were considered, Bay of Plenty District Health Board chief operating officer Phillip Balmer said.

"One hundred and eighty two people presented at our emergency department in the 24-hour period from 8am Monday to 8am Tuesday, and we admitted 66 people," he said.

"That put additional pressure on the hospital which had been very busy in the past month."

The contingency plans would have involved discharging people early, cancelling elective surgery, transferring people to Whakatane Hospital and postponing some outpatient procedures.

"Fortunately, the unprecedented influx slowed and no drastic measures were needed to be put in place."

The surge came after a 10-fold increase in patients with flu-like symptoms last month prompted Tauranga Hospital to set up two special patient assessment units.

There were still a number of schools in the Western Bay of Plenty reporting high absentee rates, Medical Officer of Health Jim Miller said.

The 51 swine flu cases were more than double  that of the week before, and those were only the cases confirmed in laboratories, he said.

"We expect there are many more cases out there, where people have just stayed at home sick."

Despite the region being in the grips of the sick season, Mr Miller said Tamiflu was still in good supply and local health services were well prepared to tackle the country's second wave of pandemic influenza.
 

Mr Balmer urged people who were unwell or injured but not in need of emergency or specialist care to either phone the free Healthline or go to their GP first.