Swine flu overwhelms Christchurch hospital
All elective cardiac surgery in Canterbury has been postponed as swine flu overwhelms Christchurch Hospital's intensive care unit (ICU).
Hospital acting general manager Ruth Barclay said eight people requiring heart surgery had their operations postponed this week.
The ICU, which usually cares for a maximum of 12 patients, has been treating 15 people.
At least eight patients in the unit had swine flu or flu and required ventilation, Barclay said.
Surgery will resume when ICU numbers drop.
Swine flu has put some young people with no previous medical conditions in intensive care units around the country. The national death toll from swine flu yesterday hit 10.
The Ministry of Health said swine flu was the dominant virus circulating and accounted for up to 90 per cent of all flu-like illness.
Canterbury businesses could also soon feel the impact of swine flu.
Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend said more than 847,000 weeks of labour could be lost if the infection rate reached the predicted 30 per cent peak.
The productivity loss was "very significant".
"Absenteeism is high and people are definitely being impacted by it. It is working its way through the community, and the business sector isn't excluded from that," he said.
"It's not a panic situation, but a situation we should manage to the best of our abilities."
About 30 staff were absent from Foodstuffs South Island's Christchurch head office on the same day last week.
The grocery giant's Hornby distribution centre was also stretched by the loss of ill workers, chief executive Steve Anderson said.
"We don't know if it was swine flu, but with the added awareness, people are staying away with colds as well," he said.
Townsend believed absence rates would rise. "Those issues are starting to increase and we're expecting it to peak somewhere around late August or early September."
The pandemic was a further blow for businesses struggling through the "biggest economic crisis since the Depression".
"Under normal circumstances, companies would be in a much better position to cope with the cost of absenteeism and the cost of declining production and sales due to the swine flu, but because we're all running pretty lean at the moment there's not a lot of room to move," he said.
Canterbury-West Coast Secondary Principals' Association chairman Denis Pyatt said he expected no problems with pupils returning from school holidays next week.
"I anticipate we'll carry on as normal," he said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/swine-flu/2601427/Swine-flu-overwhelms-Christchurch-hospital
All elective cardiac surgery in Canterbury has been postponed as swine flu overwhelms Christchurch Hospital's intensive care unit (ICU).
Hospital acting general manager Ruth Barclay said eight people requiring heart surgery had their operations postponed this week.
The ICU, which usually cares for a maximum of 12 patients, has been treating 15 people.
At least eight patients in the unit had swine flu or flu and required ventilation, Barclay said.
Surgery will resume when ICU numbers drop.
Swine flu has put some young people with no previous medical conditions in intensive care units around the country. The national death toll from swine flu yesterday hit 10.
The Ministry of Health said swine flu was the dominant virus circulating and accounted for up to 90 per cent of all flu-like illness.
Canterbury businesses could also soon feel the impact of swine flu.
Canterbury Employers' Chamber of Commerce chief executive Peter Townsend said more than 847,000 weeks of labour could be lost if the infection rate reached the predicted 30 per cent peak.
The productivity loss was "very significant".
"Absenteeism is high and people are definitely being impacted by it. It is working its way through the community, and the business sector isn't excluded from that," he said.
"It's not a panic situation, but a situation we should manage to the best of our abilities."
About 30 staff were absent from Foodstuffs South Island's Christchurch head office on the same day last week.
The grocery giant's Hornby distribution centre was also stretched by the loss of ill workers, chief executive Steve Anderson said.
"We don't know if it was swine flu, but with the added awareness, people are staying away with colds as well," he said.
Townsend believed absence rates would rise. "Those issues are starting to increase and we're expecting it to peak somewhere around late August or early September."
The pandemic was a further blow for businesses struggling through the "biggest economic crisis since the Depression".
"Under normal circumstances, companies would be in a much better position to cope with the cost of absenteeism and the cost of declining production and sales due to the swine flu, but because we're all running pretty lean at the moment there's not a lot of room to move," he said.
Canterbury-West Coast Secondary Principals' Association chairman Denis Pyatt said he expected no problems with pupils returning from school holidays next week.
"I anticipate we'll carry on as normal," he said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/swine-flu/2601427/Swine-flu-overwhelms-Christchurch-hospital
