Provider Healthcare Services
North Shore Hospital Campus
Shakespeare Road, Takapuna
Private Bag 93-503, Takapuna
Auckland 0740
Telephone: 09 489 0527
Facsimile: 09 486 8339
16 November 2020
D. Griffiths
[FYI request #13948 email] Dear D. Griffiths
Re: OIA request – Occupancy rate of ICU in NZ hospitals
Thank you for your Official Information Act request received 19 October 2020 seeking information about
intensive care unit (ICU) occupancy rates from Waitematā District Health Board (DHB).
Before responding to your specific questions, it may be useful to provide some context about our
services.
Waitematā DHB serves a population of more than 630,000 across the North Shore, Waitakere and
Rodney areas, the largest and one of the most rapidly growing DHBs in the country. We are the largest
employer in the district, employing around 8,500 people across more than 80 locations.
In addition to providing services to our own population, we are also the metropolitan Auckland provider
of forensic psychiatry, child disability services, child community dental services and community alcohol
and drug services.
Responses to your request are provided below. Please note we are only able to provide information for
Waitematā DHB:
What is the maximum bed occupancy in ICUs across all hospitals in New Zealand, in total?
Waitematā DHB has capacity for up to 14 ICU/HDU beds, all at North Shore Hospital. Please note that
Waitakere Hospital patients requiring HDU/ICU-level care are transferred to North Shore Hospital for
treatment.
What has been the bed occupancy rate (% of beds occupied in ICUs) by week/month [which ever time
period data is available] across the same hospitals in question 1 above, for the period 15 March 2020
to 1 October 2020.
Bed occupancy/capacity is related to the number of nurses who are staffed on each shift and not the
physical number of beds available. Where more than 100% capacity is indicated below, these have been
occasions where additional nursing resource has been required to cover the number of patients
admitted.
Our occupancy for the dates requested is as per the following table:
1
Average occupancy for ICU/HDU by week from 15 March 2020 to 01 October 2020
Date by week
Average
occupancy %
March 15 – 21
64.63
March 22 – 28
53.06
March 29 – April 4
49.98
April 5 – 11
70.74
April 12 – 18
77.55
April 19 – 25
61.90
April 26 – May 2
69.39
May 3 – 9
71.43
May 10 – 16
58.50
May 17 – 23
42.86
May 24 – 30
101.36
May 31 – June 6
80.27
June 7 – 13
84.35
June 14 – 20
84.35
June 21 – 27
90.48
June 28 – July 4
93.88
July 5 – 11
88.44
July 12 – 18
105.44
July 19 – 25
101.36
July 26 – August 1
114.29
August 2 – 8
68.70
August 9 – 15
67.34
August 16 – 22
77.55
August 23 – 29
82.99
August 30 –
65.30
September 5
September 6 – 12
70.75
September 13 – 19
76.19
September 20 – 26
107.48
September 27 –
88.57
October 1
I trust that this information is helpful.
Waitematā DHB supports the open disclosure of information to assist community understanding of how
we are delivering publicly funded healthcare. This includes the proactive publication of anonymised
Official Information Act responses on our website from 10 working days after they have been released.
If you consider there are good reasons why this response should not be made publicly available, we will
be happy to consider your views.
Yours sincerely
Mark Shepherd
Director Provider Healthcare Services
Waitematā District Health Board
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