Larry Williams Drive

The ongoing backlog in surgical procedures may have already had fatal consequences. An investigation is underway after it was revealed that a Waikato hospital patient died while on the cardiac surgical waitlist in October last year. The surgery should have taken place within 90 days, but the patient had waited for 115 days before the unexpected death. Health commentator Ian Powell says these events are concerning, but not surprising. "I think it's fair to say that there was the pressure on the health system primarily due to severe shortages across the various relevant professional occupations. There are a significant number- difficult to quantify yet- of avoidable deaths." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.