A weekend trip to ED is not fun for anyone
Having recently experienced a required visit to the Emergency Department at Dunedin Public Hospital, I totally endorse retired consultant surgeon and IC consultant specialist Mike Hunter’s summation of the situation as it is (Opinion ODT 14.10.24) and the urgent need for government investment now.
I would like to see Christopher Luxon or Shane Reti while visiting Dunedin to suffer, say, a cardiac incident requiring admission to the ED, preferably on a Friday or Saturday evening.
If they were lucky enough to be conscious, either would get to see for themselves nurses and ambulance staff facing a continuous stream of admissions to ED.
Gurneys packed like sardines on both sides and down the middle of the corridor. It is like a war zone area.
Nurses cover 2-3 patients at a time checking blood pressures, state of comfort or pain, inserting cannulas in arms and erecting IV fluids, walking backwards and forwards at pace, changing sheets and doling out blankets, constantly checking the never-ending influx of admissions — and looking for a doctor to follow-up.
There is no pause in this constant traffic of people needing attention.
It is high pressure — yet still the nurses manage to smile as if this chaos is normal.
It is not normal. It is unbelievable that they can keep going at this rate.
As a retired nurse, I was and am distressed for them. I waited in ED six hours, having been seen and well looked after by several nurses. They did everything they could for me.
I discharged myself because I felt I was taking up someone’s time unnecessarily. I felt well enough to leave and look after myself. Others weren’t.
The government cannot talk themselves out of their responsibility for this hospital.
They must listen to Mike Hunter and to others on the coalface and act now.
Pamela Ritchie
Caversham
Causing distress
Over the last 10 years I spent a lot of time in and out of Dunedin Hospital as my late wife, Natalie, made her cancer pilgrimage.
Her care was always excellent and we both were immensely grateful. But the corridors of her ward were always lined with equipment; gear that needed to be handy but for which there was no storage space.
Staff, patients, and visitors were involved in a constant dance around each other, trying to avoid accidents while ensuring the highest possible care was attended to.
Now the government is proposing to reduce floor space in the new hospital. This can only result in the worsening of an already intolerable situation.
There will be more crowding. Prospects for accidents will increase still further. This proposal is a move from the idiotic to the iniquitous.
The government should stop wasting public money and build the hospital which was properly planned for and which they promised, and stop tripping over reasons to cause more distress.
Selwyn Yeoman
Pine Hill
A simple solution
I see that Mr Luxon is considering a new way of reducing costs for the building of the Southern Regional Hospital: just reduce the floor size. I now wait for him to announce he has overcome the high cost of building new roads: he has decided to simply shorten the roads.
B. Bishop
Waverley
Rain in the hills will run down to the flat
This letter is to all the residents of Kew, Corstophine, Lookout Point, Maryhill and Southern Mornington. The recent rain fell on your roofs, driveways and lawns. It shot straight down to South Dunedin. If you promise to dig up part of your lawn and plant shurbs and trees, everyone in South Dunedin will bless you. It takes a lot of water to wet a tree but water runs straight down the grass leaf.
Jill Hamel
Roslyn
Grateful thanks
A quick note of appreciation to Dunedin City Council for the timely upgrade of Dunedin central’s water management infrastructure.
Having attended the fascinating public lectures that clearly showed the historic water management system with its barrel vaulted brick-lined tunnels, I cannot but think that the new water piping was completed in the nick of time.
No overflowing drains, collapsed footpaths or gushing fractured pipes were seen as a result the recent deluge. A few less parking spaces a small price to pay for avoiding potential devastation. Loving the city centre upgrade for another reason.
Stephanie Pomfret
Dunedin
Change of heart
Dumbfounded is one word that comes to mind when reading that long-time anthropogenic climate change denier William F. Lindqvist (Letters ODT 11.10.24) admits that sea levels are rising. While blaming "climate alarmists" for alerting us decades ago to this unfolding reality, he is entirely correct that it will take unprecedented levels of government expenditure on wells, pumps, and seawalls if the South Dunedin of the past is to be maintained into the future. Welcome to the party pal.
Mike Palin
Belleknowes
Dunedin is not making a good first impression
What a put-off to passengers on Dunedin's first cruise ship visit of the season, to be bombarded by protesters and banners.
Complain direct to the shipping companies about ships' emissions if they must, but for fare-paying passengers keen to see the sights in our beautiful city and spend mega-bucks shopping and touring, being confronted with unwelcome banners, including that draped over our most photographed heritage building, the Railway Station, is beyond the pale.
As a cruiser myself, I would leave never to return if I was made to feel so unwelcome. OK, our first group of cruise visitors for the season may have taken it on the chin, but word gets around among passengers and down the track we could very easily find ourselves without this much needed boost to our economy.
Lois Galer
Dunedin
Article praised
What a great article (Opinion ODT 15.10.24) by Bill Verrall: "The wealthy are getting wealthier and the poor are getting poorer".
History tells us that if this situation continues the outcome is anarchy. The have-nots corralled into a corner have two responses: fight or flight. Do the rich want to live in barbed wire, guard dogs, bodyguard gated communities fearful for their lives? We have a government that allows and fosters a tax policy allowing the wealthy to avoid paying taxes while the poor are being harassed for being a drain on society.
Ian Davie
Careys Bay
Bill Verrall proposes a fair and reasonable rate of taxation for the wealthy, and yet also states that the super rich don't pay taxes. Increasing tax rates still won’t touch those who so easily avoid it currently. We need to find those gaps and minimise the avoidance. Perhaps an ethics class could be useful too.
Phillipa Buchanan
Dunedin
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