Busy year for Health Waikato

Waikato District Health Board's hospital and health services provider arm Health Waikato had a year to remember.

In the financial year 1 July 2008-30 June 2009, the organisation:

did 21,686 surgical operations
saw 78,275 people in its emergency departments
welcomed 3816 new babies
served 685,664 patient meals and delivered 35,915 meals on wheels
had 181,156 outpatient attendances
processed 7.6 million blood tests
discharged 86,616 patients from hospitals
and made more than 300,000 rural, community and district nursing visits.

In her presentation to the Health Waikato Advisory Committee meeting today chief operating officer Jan Adams said while much of the focus towards the end was on Health Waikato's financial performance - it reported a $12 million unaudited loss before write offs - people needed reminding of the enormity of work done by all staff.

"It's obvious how hard our staff work everyday as they consistently push to provide the best care for the patients," she said.

ENDS