Hawke’s Bay: Rise in school absences and ED visits as winter bugs spread
A spike in influenza and whooping cough is hitting the Hawke’s Bay region hard, with presentations at Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s emergency department rising and schools facing a wave of illness.
One Hawke’s Bay school, The Terrace School in Waipukurau, shared a post on Monday morning encouraging students in two classrooms to stay home where possible, as five of its seven “mainstream” teachers were off sick for the day.
Two other schools, Waipukurau Primary and Parkvale Primary School (Hastings), had 100 pupils and 120 pupils absent, respectively, on the same day.
Meanwhile, during a single day last week, Monday, Hawke’s Bay Hospital’s emergency department had 225 patient presentations.
Health NZ did not confirm whether that was a record, but confirmed it was well above the daily average during winter, of 158 presentations.
“Despite these pressures, our dedicated staff continued to provide safe, compassionate and professional care in extremely difficult circumstances,” David Warrington, Health NZ group director of operations for Hawke’s Bay, said.
“Winter is always a busy time for health services with increasing respiratory illness putting pressure on the emergency department and other parts of the hospital, and this year is no different.”
Some medical centres around Hawke’s Bay are also asking patients to wear masks upon entry.
“Due to increased Influenza A activity in the community, please wear a mask if you have respiratory symptoms,” a sign outside The Doctors Napier stated this week.
Warrington said cooler winter weather meant more people were susceptible to getting sick from influenza (flu), Covid-19, and other respiratory illnesses, such as whooping cough (pertussis).
“Preparations for winter have been underway since March to help people stay well, support primary care, improve hospital flow, and enable patients to return home sooner.
“This includes more staff, extra bed capacity, and more care available in the community.”
Warrington said vaccinations were important, including from whooping cough, of which there had been an increase in cases.
Dr Graham Denyer, a GP and chief medical officer of hybrid primary healthcare provider Tend Health, said “the whole system is under a fair bit of pressure”.
“Obviously we’re experiencing a bit of a peak of influenza at the moment, which tends to happen around about now in August.
“I think just in the last week or so, we’ve seen a significant spike, particularly in influenza, which has stacked the pressure on.”
Napier’s overnight urgent health service, Napier Health on Wellesley Rd, was shut overnight five times in the past week due to staff illness.
Meanwhile, Hawke’s Bay Secondary Schools Principals’ Association chairwoman and Napier Girls’ High School principal, Dawn Ackroyd, said schools were dealing with increased levels of sickness.
She said higher-than-usual absences were being caused by influenza, Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses.
“The impact is being felt in classrooms, where student attendance and continuity of learning are disrupted, and among staff, where finding sufficient relief teachers can be particularly challenging.
“One day last week we, NGHS, had 20% of students absent due to illness.
“Our staff absences have also increased, with one of our highest rates last week at 9%; this is double the average rate, for our staff.”
She said when several staff were away at the same time, schools may need to reorganise or combine classes.
“Our schools are doing everything we can to minimise disruption while maintaining safe and effective learning environments.”
She said regular attendance was essential but “students and staff who are genuinely unwell need to stay home, recover properly and avoid spreading illness throughout the school community”.
Hawke’s Bay Primary Principals’ Association secretary and Greenmeadows School principal, Mark Johnson, agreed.
He said, at his school, about 50 to 60 children had been off sick each day over the past week, which was about 10% of the student population.
That was a high for the year.
He said other schools had been impacted more severely, such as Waipukurau Primary and Parkvale Primary School.
He said it was important that parents kept children at home if they were ill, as it helped them recover and limited viruses spreading and absences getting worse.
He said it was better to take a cautious approach and keep a child at home when in doubt.
As for schools dealing with staff absences due to illness, he said relievers were quite “thin on the ground” during winter months, and schools were experiencing similar challenges.
“It’s just a matter of doing the best you can.”
People with non-urgent health concerns are asked to consider other options than the hospital ED, including the free Healthline (0800 611 116) to speak to a registered nurse, or local GPs, and community pharmacies.
However, anyone who needs emergency care should attend the ED without delay or call 111.