Mrs Blake, the Southern District Health Board's chief operating officer (Otago), said about 1400 bed days had been wasted in the past 12 months with orthopaedic patients waiting for acute surgery.
For 25 years, the Dunedin site had only one of its eight main operating theatres dedicated for acute surgery of all types. It also has two day surgery theatres.
She told the board's hospitals'advisory committee in Invercargill yesterday that in the past month the hospital had had to reduce the amount of elective surgery significantly because of the amount of acute or emergency work required.
The complexity and cost of the surgery, measured in costweights, was significantly higher in March than planned and also for the year.
Some acute orthopaedic patients waited days for surgery in March, even though elective surgery was postponed.
The increases were having an effect on the hospital's production plan and, if the trend for increased numbers of acute procedures continued, "we are going to need to look at doing something very different".
She told the committee the project looking at how orthopaedic patients proceeded through the system was producing some "very interesting preliminary findings".
It looked like the board was "way underservicing" in terms of its acute theatre.
The orthopaedic team would make a presentation to the committee next month, she said.
Speaking after the meeting, Mrs Blake said it was "high time" the hospital increased its acute theatre capability.
Dr Branko Sijnja asked if most people referred back to their general practitioner for continued management because the hospital was unable to provide elective orthopaedic surgery said "bugger this" and got the work done somewhere else.
However, Mrs Blake said the majority of people would not have the means for that.
Mrs Blake said she did not believe there was a particular reason for the number of acute cases. It reflected having an ageing population and people were getting sicker.
One area where there had been a record number of patients in March was in the renal dialysis unit. Ninety-five patients were treated that month, with a further three patients scheduled to begin treatment last month.
