District Health Board Updates

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Nelson Hospital officials today warned that surgery could be postponed due to high occupancy in the medical ward.

Four people in Nelson Hospital have influenza-like symptoms and may have Swine Flu. In Wairau Hospital in Blenheim two people are in hospital with influenza however the occupancy does not indicate the need to postpone surgery.

Nelson Marlborough District Health Board, Health Controller, Mike Cummins said, "People with hospital
appointments and procedures scheduled should be aware that changes might need to be made at short notice. However if patients do not receive notice of postponement they should attend as per their original booking.

"Early this morning indications for staff illness looked a lot better than last week which is good news for the hospitals.

"We will continue to monitor the occupancy rate at Nelson Hospital and keep people informed if it becomes necessary to postpone scheduled surgery or appointments."

Mr Cummins advised students and teachers returning to school today that anyone who is sick should stay at home until they were essentially well,"
Most people with influenza will begin to feel better after a few days. Sometimes complications, such as asthma, pneumonia or heart problems arise and the ill person may need to medical advice. These complications can develop with seasonal influenza as well as the new pandemic influenza.
Seek advice from the local 0800 FLU INFO line or your GP or Healthline 0800 611 116 if an ill person has an underlying health condition or if the person:

? starts to feel better, then gets worse
? has a temperature of 38?C or greater
? has chills or severe shaking
? has difficulty breathing or chest pain
? has purple or blue discolouration of the lips
? is less responsive than normal, is unusually quiet, or becomes confused
? is vomiting and unable to keep liquids down
?has signs of dehydration such as dizziness when standing, not urinating, and in infants, a lack of tears when they cry
? has seizures or convulsions

Katherine Rock
Communications Advisor
Nelson Marlborough District Health Board
Board Office
Braemar Campus
PO Box 18
Nelson
DD 03 546 1824 Internal Extn 7824 Cell 0274 466 799 Fax 03 546 1747
katherine.rock@nmdhb.govt.nz
http://www.nmdhb.govt.nz/News.aspx?NTID=2

 

[kiwibird]

Re: District Health Board Updates

MEDIA RELEASES
07/28/09
Swine Flu July 29
South Canterbury Information
From Incident Controller Christine Nolan
Number of confirmed case in South Canterbury ? 43, up eight from yesterday.
Patients in hospital with H1N1 ? same 75-year-old woman with confirmed H1N1 in a stable condition. She is not in the intensive care unit. No further admissions.
Staff sickness. Two new cases of hospital staff with Influenza-like-illness have been reported today.
In the past day there have been two elective procedures cancelled. Both were patients who had ILI. There were no outpatient clinics cancelled over the past day.
Community Based Assessment Centres (CBACs) remain inactivated and the situation is being reviewed daily.
The national Healthline is available for South Canterbury residents on 0800 611 116.

Regional
Canterbury
Canterbury: 537 cases and 2 deaths

Latest Update from the Ministry of Health
Media Release 28 July 2009

Influenza A (H1N1) Swine Flu - Update 117
The Ministry of Health?s weekly monitoring may indicate a levelling in the number of people going to the GP with flu symptoms.

Health Minister Tony Ryall says ?While the numbers of people going to their GP with flu symptoms may appear to be levelling, there are still high rates of flu in the community. Many people are still getting sick, and tragically some deaths are occurring. Around the country 22 people are seriously ill in ICU.

?It is far too soon to draw any conclusions around whether we have reached the peak or if this slowing reflects less social contact because of the school holidays. Flu spreads more readily from family to family through contact between children at school.

?There are indications in New Zealand and Australia that the rate of school age children presenting at GPs with flu symptoms slowed during the holidays so it is possible we will see the GP consultation rate start increasing again now that schools are back.

?There was also a slowing in hospital admissions last week, but again, more time is needed to draw any conclusions.

?The pattern in New Zealand is also similar to the state of Victoria, where we are advised there are early signs flu cases may be starting to decline.

?A new information campaign to help people reduce the spread of flu starts tomorrow with new Ministry of Health TV ads. Also, hand-washing posters are being sent to schools throughout the country to help schools remind kids about the importance of regular hand-washing. The campaign aims to lessen the pressure on the health system by helping people look after themselves.

Deputy Director of Public Health, Dr Fran McGrath, says with the pandemic still with us it was important people continued to make sure they washed and dried their hands thoroughly, covered coughs and sneezes, stayed home if unwell and sought help if their symptoms worsened.

"People unwell with influenza should carefully avoid contact with sick and elderly people, as well as pregnant women and young children, and not visit hospitals unless for treatment for their own illness," Dr McGrath said.
Latest Numbers

Numbers of people in hospitals with the Pandemic Influenza (H1N1) 09

As at midday today, a total of 72 people are reported to be in hospital with Pandemic Influenza (H1N1) 09 or its complications, including 22 in intensive care.

The number of patients currently in intensive care with confirmed Pandemic Influenza (H1N1) 09 broken down by region is as follows:
Northland (2), Auckland (7), Counties Manukau (4), Waikato (1), Lakes (1) Capital and Coast (2), Nelson Marlborough (1) Canterbury (4).

There are a total of 2704 confirmed cases of Pandemic Influenza (H1N1) 09 swine flu, up from 2662 yesterday.

The actual number of cases of Pandemic Influenza (H1N1) 09 will be significantly higher, as only a small proportion of people with symptoms are being tested.

This is because for most people, it's a mild illness and they will recover readily at home without needing medical treatment.

The number of deaths from Pandemic Influenza (H1N1) ?09 swine flu is now 13, up one since yesterday. The latest death is that of a woman in her 30's who died in Wellington in recent days.

Please note these 13 deaths reported by the Ministry are deaths from swine flu, where swine flu was a primary cause of death. The Ministry will continue to report deaths from H1N1 where H1N1 was the major contributing factor to the person's death.

Where people have H1N1 at the time of death, but it is unclear if it led to the death, normal pathology and testing procedures will be carried out. It can take a considerable amount of time to determine an outcome.
Healthline Calls
There has been a continued high number of influenza-related calls to Healthline over the past week, although numbers have decreased since the peaks Healthline experienced in mid-June and early July.


Syd Horgan
Child & Youth Planning Co-ordinator
Education Planning Manager
Healthy Eating Healthy Action - Oranga Kai Oranga Pumau
Communication Delegate
SCDHB
Private Bag 911
Timaru
Phone: 03 684 1442
Cell: 027 438 7776
Fax: 03 688 -0238
Email: shorgan@timhosp.co.nz
http://www.scdhb.co.nz/index.php/news/122/65