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Up to 70 children a day presenting to ED with viral infections in Christchurch

Joanne Naish

Christchurch’s emergency department is seeing a spike in children severely ill from respiratory illnesses as an RSV outbreak arrives later than expected from Australia.

It comes as the emergency department and urgent care clinics report being ‘‘under significant pressure’’ from an overall surge in patient numbers.

Te Whatu Ora’s Becky Hickmott said about 70 children a day were presenting at the ED with respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses, including respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).

However, the numbers were lower than the large outbreak of RSV among New Zealand children last year, Hickmott said.

The Institute for Environmental Science and Research (ESR) said RSV continued to be detected at ‘‘moderate levels’’ in Christchurch, Wellington, Waikato and in small numbers in Dunedin, in the week ended September 25.

Weekly virology data reported by ESR showed RSV was accounting for a high proportion of respiratory illnesses reported in Waikato and Wellington, overall.

Hickmott said there had been a spike in RSV cases in Australia about six weeks ago.

‘‘Our eyes and ears pricked up when we heard that and we know with the borders opening up we would start to see a rise in cases here. We thought

we had escaped it.’’

The hospital was prepared for a rise in cases and was working with the primary care sector, which was doing an ‘‘outstanding job’’ to manage the illness.

There was a variety of viruses circulating in the community.

‘‘We are not seeing as much influenza but we are are seeing respiratory illnesses impacting babies and under-5s particularly with quite considerable illnesses,’’ Hickmott said.

Some children had built up an immunity from last year’s outbreak but some were still vulnerable and had been protected by closed borders for the previous three years.

Symptoms of gastro bugs were severe diarrhoea and vomiting, while for respiratory viruses children were presenting with extremely high fevers and severe wheezing.

Hickmott urged parents to seek medical help in an emergency and to use Healthline (0800 611 116) as the first port of call.

It was difficult to prevent children from catching viruses, but good hygiene and staying home when sick would help reduce the spread, she said.

A Te Whatu Ora Capital, Coast spokesperson said child health clinicians were seeing low levels of RSV and respiratory illnesses among children in hospital in the Wellington region.

Porirua GP Bryan Betty said there had been a spike over winter but the numbers were dropping off now.

Te Whatu Ora’s Norma Campbell said there were 368 presentations to Christchurch’s ED on Tuesday, ‘‘which is exceptionally busy for midweek’’.

By 4pm on Wednesday, 101 people had either been treated or were waiting to be seen.

‘‘Our emergency department is exceptionally busy and our hospital is operating over capacity,’’ Campbell said.

Extra staff weremade available by postponing some surgeries and rescheduling some outpatient appointments, including gastroscopy and colonoscopy procedures and some urgent cancer surgeries.

A combination of high demand, very sick patients and a lack of staff meant Moorhouse Medical and Riccarton Clinic were unable to see walk-in patients and took only enrolled patients by booked appointment on Wednesday.

The same situation applied at Moorhouse Medical yesterday.

The 24-Hour Surgery on Bealey Ave was operating as normal, but was busier than usual with waits of six hours or more on Wednesday afternoon for patients with needs that were less urgent.

Campbell said all three urgent care facilities were expected to be very busy and/or operating reduced services due to staffing issues from yesterday and into the weekend.

‘‘I need to emphasise that people who need care more urgently will be seen sooner and will get the care they need,’’ she said.

‘‘There is no single condition causing the high demand, it is a range of illnesses affecting the community.’’

People who did not need emergency care could phone Healthline on 0800 611 116, call their GP, or speak to their local pharmacist, she said.

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2022-09-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-09-30T07:00:00.0000000Z

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