6 Nov 2008

Record number of cases at Middlemore Hospital

3:24 pm on 6 November 2008

The emergency department at Middlemore Hospital saw a record number of patients on Monday.

The emergency department normally sees between 220 and 230 patients a day, but the Acute Care Service Manager, Dorothy McKeen, says there were a record 281 patients on Monday.

She says this placed extra pressures throughout the hospital on the following two days.

Some patients were discharged early when possible, to provide extra ward space. Non-urgent surgery was not affected.

She says the hospital is still busy, at 97% occupancy on Thursday, but it is business as usual again now.