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The Star Latest Christchurch news at www. .kiwi
Thursday March 16 2017 17
Human waste found in bins
Dialysis bags
recycling
solution
found
• By Gabrielle Stuart
HUMAN WASTE has caused
a messy dispute between local
authorities – but the problem
may be solved through a new
recycling programme.
The problems began when
city council staff at the Ecosort
recycling depot started finding
bags of waste from kidney
treatments – which often
jammed up sorting machines,
and caused messy problems for
workers.
It came from patients getting
peritoneal dialysis treatment,
who were putting the waste from
their catheters in their yellow
recycling bins, rather than with
rubbish.
The city council threatened
to fine the Canterbury District
Health Board if the problem
continued.
But the CDHB said the
problem was caused because
KIP0018KiwiBubsPres 2017-03-10T16:50:42+13:00
BINNED: Human waste from kidney treatments which was
thrown into yellow recycling bins became a messy problem
for city council recycling collection staff.
PHOTO: GEOFF SLOAN
the city council-provided red
rubbish bins were too small to
take the waste, and patients on
the treatment needed bigger
bins.
The problem was solved
when private company Baxter
Healthcare stepped in with a
solution in September, offering
to start a waste recycling
programme free of charge.
It has run similar programmes
in Australia and Auckland,
collecting the PVC containers
used in the treatment.
As of December, more than
120 patients across New Zealand
had signed up to the recycling
scheme.
It runs similar programmes
in hospitals, collecting oxygen
tubing and oxygen masks which
are turned into rubber matting
for children’s playgrounds.
Staff shortage strains
mental health services
• By Gabrielle Stuart
CANTERBURY’S strained
mental health services are
struggling to recruit staff, a new
report has revealed.
Staff in the mental health
services have reported feeling
unsafe at work in the Canterbury
District Health Board
system, and said staffing issues
contributed to the problem.
Last year there were 775
physical assaults on CDHB staff
by patients, an average of more
than two a day.
The numbers include 236
assaults at Hillmorton Hospital
last year, where the number
had dropped from 507 assaults
recorded in 2014.
A report on the issue, prepared
for a health board meeting
today, said recruiting senior
medical officers into mental
health had been a challenge, and
there were a number of other
vacancies which had not been
filled.
It said overseas psychiatrists
were anticipated to be appointed
later this year, but the situation
was expected to “remain challenging”
until then.
It said the services were still
strained, with the adult acute inpatient
service, which deals with
the most serious cases, at 98 per
cent occupancy in February.
But it said the service was still
managing to see people quickly,
with more than 90 per cent of
people referred to the adult mental
health services seen within
21 days.
“The specialist mental health
service teams have continued to
work exceptionally hard, given
the unprecedented demand post
quakes, to provide the best care
possible in some very challenging
circumstances,” the report
said.
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