Recently, the government announced a range of measures to limit the impacts of winter illnesses and allow people to recover. These include free masks and RATs available at testing centres and pharmacies, and greater access to anti-viral medication.
Similarly, they are closely monitoring the pressures across the health care system. During the past month, there has been a significant increase in COVID-19 cases, on top of other respiratory illnesses – resulting in a larger proportion of our population and health workforce being unwell. While this isn’t unexpected in winter, its impact is earlier than usual, with more cases presenting to emergency departments, general practices, and medical centres.
Omicron, new COVID-19 subvariants, flu and other respiratory illnesses all have an impact.
All elements of the sector – across primary, community, ambulance services, aged residential care, and hospitals – are working together to ensure all possible actions are being taken.
These include:
- Hospitals coordinating their planning to ensure resources are deployed and shared to support access to care where it is needed.
- Recognition of the need to support primary and community care, and aged residential care, so they, in turn, can support hospitals, and avoid placing additional demand on them.
- Working as quickly as possible to implement changes that will expand telehealth to alleviate pressures on ED, and to provide greater after-hours options for patients.
- Making it easier for GPs, ambulance services and Healthline to make direct referrals to radiology, reducing the need for ED admissions.
- Encouraging flu, MMR and Covid-19 boosters, with local support and telephone and advertising campaigns, and a number of focused activities to better improve vaccination uptake among Māori and Pacific populations.
