Birthing unit fully staffed: HNZ
There is a 60% shortage of midwives in the South Island, and Rākai Kahukura — Wānaka Maternity Unit was not immune to the impacts of a healthcare crisis and as a result had to be closed earlier this year.
However, HNZ's Southern chief midwife Karen Ferraccioli said the unit had never been closed and was only on "standby".
"A unit is placed on standby if there are no core staff working there at the time. The units are still open to our community-based LMCs [lead maternity carers] and their back-ups to provide labour and birth care if required," she said.
But several mothers told The Wānaka Sun that they were turned away from the unit for postnatal care because it was understaffed.
Wānaka midwife Emily Sancha said although the unit was available for birth or urgent assessments, mothers were turned away and unable to receive postnatal care when the unit was on standby.
Almost 400 Otago Central Lakes patients gave birth outside the region in 2024, including 115 in Dunedin and 281 in Southland.
The Wānaka Maternity Unit has hosted about 38 births and over 120 postnatal stays over the year that it has been open.
Jessica Pearson, of Wānaka, was one of several mothers who faced a stressful time during her birth as a result of the unit being on standby.
Due on December 26, she said she had been told by her midwife the unit was expected to be closed on certain days in December and January.
"It was quite stressful. Because I just didn't really know where I was going to end up."
Ms Pearson ended up needing to have an induced labour, which could only be done in Dunedin.
She was hoping to still be able to have postnatal care in Wānaka, but was told the unit was closed and she had to go to the Alexandra birthing unit, away from her partner and son.
"I felt comfortable having the birthing unit here but, in the end, I wasn't even able to give birth there or stay there so I kind of just thought, 'what was even the point?"'
Wānaka mother Cha Herniot had some complications and, after giving birth in Dunedin, she was not able to access postnatal care at home due to understaffing.
"We couldn't go to the one in Wānaka for the same problem, they were understaffed, so we drove from Dunedin to Alexandra and we stayed a couple of days there."
Figures provided by HNZ show in four years there has been a 51% increase in Otago Central Lakes babies born in Dunedin and Southland hospitals, as well as a 51% increase in Otago Central Lakes residents being admitted to Dunedin and Southland hospitals.
Wānaka's population has nearly doubled since 2013 and there are now 18,000 people living in the Upper Clutha, causing a push at capacity for the local health system.
Wānaka mother Laura Puddy's due date was in January and she was also told to expect that she may not be able to give birth in Wānaka or stay for postnatal care, resulting in uncertainty and stress.
"I think that all the way through your pregnancy, you're told that time needs to be the calmest. So if you have stresses around that due date, it can alter your experience."
Ms Puddy had to give birth in Dunedin due to complications almost a month before her due date but was then able to receive postnatal care in Wānaka from December 31.
She said the care she got in Wānaka was of a good standard, but it was difficult being unsure of whether she would be able to access it when needed.
"The nurses and the midwives in my postnatal care helped me immeasurably," she said.
The unit now boasts a team of 12 midwives, including six community-based LMCs, who provide care at the unit.
Ms Ferraccioli said the standbys and refusals had happened due to unexpected roster gaps caused by sick and unplanned leave.
"The Wānaka Primary Maternity Unit was placed on standby once in April 2025 and three times in May 2025, each time for half a day. No families were affected, and if they were, they would have been transferred to our Queenstown or Alexandra units."
Emily Sancha, of Wānaka Midwives, said she was pleased to finally have all the staff it needed on board as the unit completed its first year in town.
"We needed to fully staff the unit and with a national shortage of midwives it took a few months to get there, but we made it."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Telehealth launch criticised
A local primary health organisation has criticised recent announcements about the launch of telehealth services. Minister of Health Simeon Brown recently announced a new 24/7 digital health service offering virtual consultations with New Zealand-registered doctors and nurses "anytime, anywhere". The service connects patients to clinicians through trusted providers using secure digital technology. Doctors and nurse practitioners will be able to assess symptoms, diagnose conditions, prescribe medications and provide referrals — all from wherever the patient is. "This is about making sure Kiwis can get the medical help they need when they need it, especially when they can't get a timely appointment with their regular general practitioner, or outside normal clinic hours," Mr Brown said. "It also helps ease pressure on emergency departments by treating non-urgent issues earlier and in the right setting." It would ensure care was available when and where it was needed, helping to bridge the gap when traditional access to a general practitioner was not possible, he said. The digital service gave people greater access to the care they needed, but did not replace the critical role of general practitioners, who were responsible for their patients' continuity of care. "That is why providers will be required to send clinical notes back to a patient's GP after an appointment. "At the same time, we are backing GPs with a record up-to-14% funding boost this year to support the critical work they do in our communities," Mr Brown said. WellSouth chief executive Andrew Swanson-Dobbs said primary care was in crisis in many parts of the Southern region and across the country. "We continue to hear about clinicians working unpaid, about doctors unable to retire as there is no replacement." "This is compounded in our rural parts," Mr Swanson-Dobbs said. About half of the general practices in Otago and Southland are rural or at least a 50-minute drive from a hospital. Existing services had been undermined, both clinically and financially, by telehealth providers, he said. "Investment is shifted to a service that effectively takes patients away from their own GPs. "To make matters worse, telemedicine is pulling GPs and nurses from practices for these telehealth roles." Telehealth was contributing to the issue and should not be seen as an alternative to a superior face-to-face service, he said. "If you want to reverse the trend of too few GPs, hire more GPs, fund the existing GPs adequately." As the primary health organisation for Otago and Southland, WellSouth had always maintained that investment in primary care should first and foremost support the workforce on the ground in existing general practices. "Our rural communities especially need clinicians to keep their practices sustainable." While telemedicine was an important part of primary care, more investment in people was needed, he said. "That is why at WellSouth, we are investing in building and sustaining our local general practice workforce, through new investment in training and supporting our GP registrars and new nurse practitioners, in addition to our existing nursing workforce and healthcare assistants." Mr Brown said that, as minister of health, his priority was to ensure all New Zealanders had access to timely, quality healthcare. "That is why the government has invested a record $16.68 billion in health over three budgets to bring down wait lists, employ more frontline health workers and ensure we have the health infrastructure Kiwis need. "This government has been clear that we want to see more healthcare delivered in the community and ensure that hospitals have capacity to provide planned treatments and emergency procedures. "To do this, we need greater funding of primary and community healthcare." The recent announcement of an agreement between the government and the University of Waikato to establish a new medical school may provide some welcome news. WellSouth clinical director Dr Carol Atmore said training doctors with a focus on primary care and rural health was important for the country. "The evidence shows that if you train people from rural backgrounds in rural settings both at undergraduate level and once qualified as doctors, those doctors are much more likely to settle and work in rural communities in the longer term. "Nearly half of our communities in Otago and Southland are rural and this is where the biggest workforce issues sit across the country." While there was no guarantee the graduates would end up working in the South, it was hopeful that having about 120 graduates going through the new primary care and rurally focused training programme at the University of Waikato might help alleviate some of those workforce pressures for Otago and Southland in the long term, Dr Atmore said.
Otago Daily Times
5 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Lab should be open seven days: widower
A grieving widower is vowing to continue a campaign to improve access to the Dunedin cardiac cath lab after his wife's death. Sheralyn Weepers, a te reo Māori teacher at Bayfield High School, died in 2023 on the day she was due to fly to Sydney for a life-saving heart transplant. She was 48. Her husband, Sam, said her death came a year after she had to be resuscitated at Dunedin Hospital when she had a heart attack on a Monday morning. She had been in the hospital over the weekend with heart pain but had not been treated in the catheterisation laboratory (cath lab) because her condition was not considered acute enough to call someone in at the weekend. Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora has stood by its decision not to treat Mrs Weepers in the cath lab — where treatments such as the insertion of stents and pacemakers are done — that weekend. The Weepers family, who believe the damage to her heart caused during that incident might have been avoided had she been treated at the cath lab, is now working hard to try to prevent others from having to go through the same thing. They want Dunedin Hospital to have a fulltime operational lab, instead of being closed at the weekend to all but acute cases. Mr Weepers now stands outside Dunedin Hospital at the weekends, protesting the weekend closure of the cath lab to everyone not assessed as in need of urgent care. Just because it's a Friday, Saturday or Sunday, it shouldn't matter — it should be open for anyone who needs it," he said on a recent weekend. Before she passed away, she said to me ... she wanted to make some noise about what happened here," Mr Weepers said. I'm out here really, to make sure she's remembered." He has also started a petition urging the government to fund the Dunedin Hospital to run a fulltime operational cath lab. His wife was originally diagnosed with spontaneous coronary artery dissection (Scad) in March 2012, after going to Dunedin Hospital in the evening with heart attack symptoms, Mr Weepers said. She was transferred straight to the cath lab where she received an angiogram and preventive surgery. Ten years later, on May 13, 2022 — a Friday night — Mrs Weepers went to the Dunedin Hospital at 11pm where she was diagnosed with symptoms of a heart attack", he said. It was written in her file that Mrs Weepers had Scad, but it was decided the on-call cardiologist at the time would not be called in. ... she needed care, but they would not open the lab, because it was the weekend," Mr Weepers said. He recalled being told his wife would need to wait until Monday and that she was fourth on the priority list to be seen. She stayed in hospital but had a heart attack at 2am on Monday, Mr Weepers said. She was resuscitated, transferred to ICU and later had an angiogram and curative cardiac surgery. However, her heart suffered irreparable damage" and she was diagnosed with heart failure and had a significant reduction in heart function, Mr Weepers said. She was deemed too high risk and was declined cardiac surgery in New Zealand. In May 2023, the couple flew to Adelaide for cardiac surgery; however, when there, doctors advised her she needed a full heart transplant and the plan was changed to fly to Sydney for the surgery as soon as possible. On May 15, 2023, she was due to fly to Sydney. At 2am she had an unexpected suspected ventricular fibrillation and died despite resuscitation efforts, he said. Since her death, Mrs Weepers' family have started Āwhinatia — the Sheralyn Tipene-Weepers Charitable Trust, in order to change the healthcare experience for Māori and other under-represented communities through early intervention, health education, advocacy and systemic change. Health New Zealand southern group director of operations Craig Ashton said HNZ's ongoing thoughts were with Mrs Weepers' whānau and he acknowledged the distress and impact losing a loved one had. He said HNZ had completed a thorough internal review of the case and was satisfied with the assessment and treatment provided to Mrs Weepers. We have communicated extensively with the family." He said the cath lab at Dunedin Hospital was open 24/7, during weekends and after hours. All patients are clinically assessed and have access to the cath lab for any acute or clinically urgent situations," he said.
Otago Daily Times
6 days ago
- Otago Daily Times
Birthing unit fully staffed: HNZ
Following a series of closures at the beginning of the year and several Wānaka mothers being turned away from the local birthing unit, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora (HNZ) are adamant the facility is now fully staffed. There is a 60% shortage of midwives in the South Island, and Rākai Kahukura — Wānaka Maternity Unit was not immune to the impacts of a healthcare crisis and as a result had to be closed earlier this year. However, HNZ's Southern chief midwife Karen Ferraccioli said the unit had never been closed and was only on "standby". "A unit is placed on standby if there are no core staff working there at the time. The units are still open to our community-based LMCs [lead maternity carers] and their back-ups to provide labour and birth care if required," she said. But several mothers told The Wānaka Sun that they were turned away from the unit for postnatal care because it was understaffed. Wānaka midwife Emily Sancha said although the unit was available for birth or urgent assessments, mothers were turned away and unable to receive postnatal care when the unit was on standby. Almost 400 Otago Central Lakes patients gave birth outside the region in 2024, including 115 in Dunedin and 281 in Southland. The Wānaka Maternity Unit has hosted about 38 births and over 120 postnatal stays over the year that it has been open. Jessica Pearson, of Wānaka, was one of several mothers who faced a stressful time during her birth as a result of the unit being on standby. Due on December 26, she said she had been told by her midwife the unit was expected to be closed on certain days in December and January. "It was quite stressful. Because I just didn't really know where I was going to end up." Ms Pearson ended up needing to have an induced labour, which could only be done in Dunedin. She was hoping to still be able to have postnatal care in Wānaka, but was told the unit was closed and she had to go to the Alexandra birthing unit, away from her partner and son. "I felt comfortable having the birthing unit here but, in the end, I wasn't even able to give birth there or stay there so I kind of just thought, 'what was even the point?"' Wānaka mother Cha Herniot had some complications and, after giving birth in Dunedin, she was not able to access postnatal care at home due to understaffing. "We couldn't go to the one in Wānaka for the same problem, they were understaffed, so we drove from Dunedin to Alexandra and we stayed a couple of days there." Figures provided by HNZ show in four years there has been a 51% increase in Otago Central Lakes babies born in Dunedin and Southland hospitals, as well as a 51% increase in Otago Central Lakes residents being admitted to Dunedin and Southland hospitals. Wānaka's population has nearly doubled since 2013 and there are now 18,000 people living in the Upper Clutha, causing a push at capacity for the local health system. Wānaka mother Laura Puddy's due date was in January and she was also told to expect that she may not be able to give birth in Wānaka or stay for postnatal care, resulting in uncertainty and stress. "I think that all the way through your pregnancy, you're told that time needs to be the calmest. So if you have stresses around that due date, it can alter your experience." Ms Puddy had to give birth in Dunedin due to complications almost a month before her due date but was then able to receive postnatal care in Wānaka from December 31. She said the care she got in Wānaka was of a good standard, but it was difficult being unsure of whether she would be able to access it when needed. "The nurses and the midwives in my postnatal care helped me immeasurably," she said. The unit now boasts a team of 12 midwives, including six community-based LMCs, who provide care at the unit. Ms Ferraccioli said the standbys and refusals had happened due to unexpected roster gaps caused by sick and unplanned leave. "The Wānaka Primary Maternity Unit was placed on standby once in April 2025 and three times in May 2025, each time for half a day. No families were affected, and if they were, they would have been transferred to our Queenstown or Alexandra units." Emily Sancha, of Wānaka Midwives, said she was pleased to finally have all the staff it needed on board as the unit completed its first year in town. "We needed to fully staff the unit and with a national shortage of midwives it took a few months to get there, but we made it."
