While Omicron cases soar in the North Island, health providers across Te Wai Pounamu are still waiting for the worst to come.
South Island healthcare providers are bracing for the peak of the Omicron wave of infections to hit. Photo: mihalec/123RF
General practices and community health providers are bearing the brunt of community care for Covid-19 patients under the current phase of the Omicron response.
West Coast Māori social and health service provider Poutini Waiora is one of those, and acting chief executive Lisa Tumahai is concerned about how staff will cope when cases rise in the area.
"I do worry though that when we do hit the peak of Omicron in our community, that our staff will start to wane.
"We're already worried about staff burnout."
There are 228 active cases in the West Coast region, well behind the numbers in the rest of the country.
Ashburton has 1285 active cases, and is already stretched ahead of the peak.
Eastfield Health business manager Tony Dann said weekly zooms with all the healthcare providers in the region painted a grim picture.
"Everyone is feeling strained, and I think everyone has a sense of apprehension about how we're going to cope when staff do go off sick."
Dann said health providers in the region were initially worried they wouldn't have enough support to get through the peak.
The Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) established a hauora hub to co-ordinate welfare and medical needs for people with Covid-19 in the community, but Dann said it almost came too late.
"The hub has been slow to become established and we've been fortunate to be able to manage the numbers of positive cases that have been coming through."
The CDHB is supporting about five-hundred people through the hub.
It links people to the services they need and provides check-ins when the patient's health provider is unable to.
In Christchurch, case numbers are higher, but general manager of Te Puawaitanga Ki Ōtautahi Alison Bourn said they were still pulling response plans together.
"The hub has been slow to become established and we've been fortunate to be able to manage the numbers of positive cases that have been coming through."
Healthcare providers across the region are bracing for the storm over the next few weeks.
Nurse Renee Noble works at both Te Puawaitanga Ki Ōtautahi and community health service Piki Te Ora, which is also shifting its priority to supporting Covid-19 patients.
With a team of part-time staff, Piki Te Ora doesn't normally do home visits, but it has developed a seven-day roster to meet the need, mostly revolving around rapid antigen tests (RATs).
"What [the patients] are saying is that they need access to the RAT tests," Noble said.
"For some of them there's no transport, there might be disabilities."
She said despite their adaptability, her colleagues weren't sure how they would get through the peak.
"They've shaped a new model of working, which is awesome, but they're worried that over the next two to three weeks it's just going to be so difficult to be able to keep up with the demand."
The South Island currently has more than 21,000 active Covid-19 cases, while in the North Island, Auckland alone has over 100,000.
