Elective surgery waiting list numbers up 53 percent in Counties Manukau

Photo: Supplied / LDRThe number of people in South Auckland waiting for non-acute elective surgery continues to grow. Data to the end of October shows there were 5210 patients waiting for non-acute elective surgery in Counties Manukau - up 53 percent on the same time last year - while 1115 people had been waiting longer than four months. "When you are waiting for elective surgery as an older person it can be really debilitating. Billings-Jensen understood it was a trying time for those in the health system, but said the numbers of people waiting for elective surgery was a problem. "Certainly they are playing catch-up on the outstanding backlog of elective surgery," she said.