Tens of thousands receive health care in 2017

Tens of thousands receive health care in 2017

Thousands of people from the lower North Island and upper South Island received medical treatment in Wellington during 2017.

In the past 12 months, more than 58,000 patients spent at least one night at Wellington Regional Hospital. Kenepuru Community Hospital and the Kapiti Health Centre cared for more than 7000 and around 520 patients respectively.

“Many of these patients will have been in hospital for surgery, of which we perform an average of around 1260 a month,” said hospital and healthcare services general manager Chris Lowry.

“Around 984 surgeries are performed in Wellington, and more than 270 in Porirua, each month. The most common surgeries are lens procedures – such as cataract surgery – and heart operations or procedures.”

Health professionals were also kept busy with outpatients, who don’t need overnight care. There were more than 146,000 outpatient appointments in 2017 – the busiest areas being ophthalmology (eye treatment), orthopaedics (for bones and muscles), and medical oncology (cancer treatment).

In addition, patients used the emergency department almost 62,000 times – most commonly for abdominal or chest pain.

“These numbers are all largely consistent with what we saw in 2016, and highlight just how busy this past year has been. This is especially true for Wellington Regional Hospital which, as a tertiary provider, takes patients from across the central region.

“The figures also underscore the hard work and dedication that our staff put in every day for the tens of thousands of patients who need our care and support every year.”

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