Simon O’Connor / Stuff
Operations in Taranaki and across the country have been delayed due to the one-time public holiday on Monday.
Having a public holiday on Monday has caused 19 people in Taranaki to postpone their operations.
The one-time holiday is to commemorate the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
When planning surgeries, Te Whatu Ora Taranaki always looks at the urgency of treatment as it determines how quickly these surgeries can be rebooked, Gillian Campbell, interim district director, said in an emailed statement.
“We understand how upsetting it is for patients who need surgery on any given day and expect to cancel it.
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“Our elective surgery team is trying to maximize its resources on a daily basis to make up for the sessions like these suddenly lost due to another holiday.”
Te Whatu Ora Taranaki has reached out to all those whose surgeries have been canceled to apologize and reassure them that their surgery will be rescheduled as soon as possible, Campbell said.
In July, the national Te Whatu Ora ordered all 20 districts to give surgical slots to the 7,475 patients who had waited at least a year by August 31. The operations didn’t have to be done by then, they just had to be planned.