There are just two part-time neurologists at Palmerston North Hospital. File photo. Photo: RNZ /Dom Thomas
- Woman who had seizure rushed to Palmerston North Hospital, where there was no neurologist on duty
- General doctor had to consult neurologist in Wellington
- Only two part-time neurologists are employed at Palmerston North Hospital
- Health NZ says more permanent staff and locums are on the way
A Palmerston North woman who rushed to the city's hospital after suffering a seizure was surprised to find there was no neurologist on duty.
Instead, a general doctor took instructions from a specialist in Wellington.
Health New Zealand says it has recruited to fill gaps at Palmerston North Hospital - including by using locums - but the woman RNZ spoke to is worried the shortage puts patients and hospital staff at risk.
The woman, who requested anonymity, headed to the hospital mid-afternoon on a weekday last month, and quickly saw a doctor.
"What the doctor had to do was he had to consult with the neurologist in Wellington to confirm that for my care that it was all right - that his increase in the medication was going to be acceptable," she said.
She was told the hospital's neurologists were on leave, so the Wellington arrangement was in place for Palmerston North Hospital doctors to seek specialist advice.
"[This] put additional pressure on the doctor, who's just a general medicine practitioner, who's now having to do something that a neurologist's been trained for. He's having to make decisions for patients."
Health NZ did not answer RNZ's question about how many full-time neurologists the hospital is funded for.
But its group director of operations for MidCentral Sarah Fenwick confirmed Palmerston North Hospital employed just two part-time neurologists.
"Due to a successful ongoing recruitment campaign, we have been able to employ a third who is due to start in July 2025," she said.
"We also have two short-term locums starting at the end of July 2025 and a medium-term locum starting in October 2025.
"In the meantime, we have outsourced some neurology appointments and are working with Wellington Hospital to provide patients with an inpatient neurology consult service so we can continue to manage waiting times."
She said a another neurologist was due to return to the hospital in February.
The woman who suffered the seizure said the situation was not good enough.
Two years ago she also had a seizure, but then the hospital had a neurologist available to see her.
She wondered what had happened since then.
"It's endangering the patients. It's endangering the doctors. It's a health and safety issue that needs to be taken seriously by Health NZ."
Patient Voice Aotearoa chair Malcolm Mulholland. Photo: RNZ / Jimmy Ellingham
Patient Voice Aotearoa chair Malcolm Mulholland agreed.
"I think it's extremely poor that a patient who has suffered a seizure, who lives in a hospital area with a catchment of 180,000 people, could not be seen by a neurologist in the flesh.
"This is the reason why we have hospitals, so that patients can access specialists."
They were thin on the ground at Palmerston North Hospital, an example of the postcode lottery that health reforms were supposed to end, he said.
The neurology department was one of 11 at the hospital that Mulholland understood were chronically understaffed.
"I would have thought that there would have at the very least been a locum that would have filled in for the neurologist who was on leave," he said
"I don't begrudge the neurologist having leave. I think that's necessary in their line of work, but to be reliant on one neurologist to cater for a population of 180,000 is basically insane."
The woman RNZ spoke with now faces a wait to see a specialist to follow up on that original hospital visit.
"I just feel for everybody that's going through any type of health challenge that's not been dealt with with the right professional, or specialist. Why's this happening in New Zealand?"
Fenwick said the waiting time for a first specialist neurology assessment at Palmerston North Hospital was 264 days, and 400 people were on the waiting list.
She said Health NZ was working hard to deal with this and from the end of September it's expected patients would wait no longer than four months.
"We know that waiting for specialist care can be an uncertain and distressing time for patients and their loved ones," Fenwick said.
"While our aim is always to give people the best care in a timely fashion, we're seeing growing demand for services from people with increasingly complex needs."
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