Palmerston North Hospital ED plans children's-only waiting area

Parents rushing their sick children to Palmerston North Hospital's under-pressure emergency department will soon be able to wait away from weekend drunks and other distractions.

Design work has begun on a children's-only ED waiting area, but the improvements will not be funded by the public purse.

Instead, a new foundation has come to the table to raise money for work that is not on Te Whatu Ora's immediate radar.

Palmerston North local Ellie Guest said the new area would be welcomed by parents.

When her then-one-year-old son Wesley fell and hit his head in November 2021, Guest rushed to Palmerston North Hospital's emergency department.

Wesley was bleeding profusely and falling in and out of consciousness.

But once he was given a preliminary check and assessed as being alert and awake, Guest knew she would be in for a long wait while more seriously injured or ill people were dealt with.

For nine hours, as a mid-week afternoon stretched into evening, she had to try to keep her son calm amid the chaos.

All the while, Wesley was not able to eat or drink in case he needed anaesthetic.

"We were in the midst of Covid coming to Palmy as well, so there was a lot of anxiety around these sick people being around.

"Quite often in ED there are people who are intoxicated and being quite loud, and it's quite an intimidating environment to be in."

A children's-only waiting area would have made the world of difference during their wait, Guest said.

"You have a noisy child who wants to be loud and play around and stuff like that, being in an environment where you've got other people who have children and understand all of that.

"It would be a calmer experience for a parent not having to worry about people going, 'That noisy child'."

Te Whatu Ora MidCentral district director Dr Jeff Brown, who is a paediatrician, said it was better to treat children when they were comfortable.

"If you are trying to engage a child to let them have a look at them as a nurse or a doctor - let you do something for them to make them better - it's really helpful if they are feeling safe [in] a child-friendly, whānau-friendly environment."

It is accepted Palmerston North Hospital's emergency department cannot fully cater for the number of people coming through its doors.

Brown said it was built for 17,000 people a year, but was dealing with 55,000. Even if patients were given a cubicle, a curtain was all that separated them from others.

A new emergency department could be years away, which brings no comfort to patients waiting, including children.

"If they're scared, if there's shouting and crying and screaming in pain next door, it's a whole different situation," Brown said.

In July, the Palmerston North Hospital Foundation was formed. It made the children's emergency department its first project.

Independent of Te Whatu Ora, it has already raised about $250,000 needed for the children's area, which is expected to be ready early 2023.

It would have decorated walls, appropriate furniture and five or six cubicles, following similar design principles to the hospital's children's ward.

Brown said the foundation, which is similar to those at other hospitals, such as Wellington and Starship children's in Auckland, would soon get to work on its next project.

"The whole idea of the foundation, from the trustees, is to raise money for the things which Te Whatu Ora do not see as priorities.

"It's not that they're not important, but there's only so much money that can go around."

Foundation chairman Brendan Duffy said the design and practical work for the new children's area would be left to the experts.

"The further away we are from the construction part of it the better.

"My sense is the foundation is the body that finds the revenue to make the difference, working with the senior management team, who will take the lead on the project."

About 650 children go through the emergency department each month.