Northland hospitals are bracing for an onslaught of patients as people flock to the region for the summer holidays.
It has prompted first responders to urge travellers to take care to avoid ending up in the emergency department, with the region already struggling with a GP shortage and Kaitaia’s emergency department already at capacity.
Kaitaia Hospital medical officer Dr Joel Tissingh said most of the injuries the hospital saw over the summer were from “silly things”.
“And the other one is there's a lot of drink driving that happens,” he said.
Tissingh is worried hospitals in Northland would be “slammed” as holidaymakers head to the beaches of the region, instead of going overseas due to international travel being grounded amid the pandemic.
“A lot on the sand dunes. People love going down fast down the sand dunes and into hard objects.”
Tissingh said there were also continuing concerns about Covid-19.
“Obviously, whenever there's movement, there's a chance for infectious diseases to spread.”
Last summer, Northland hospitals saw about 2500 people through their EDs during the Christmas period. This was a 12 per cent increase on the year before.
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