Hospital Services
North Shore Hospital Campus
Shakespeare Road, Takapuna
Private Bag 93-503, Takapuna
Auckland 0740
Telephone: 09 489 0527
26 January 2022
Andrew McGregor
Via email: [FYI request #17687 email]
Dear Mr McGregor
Re: OIA request – Multiple declined gastroenterology referrals
Thank you for your Official Information Act request received 02 December 2021 seeking information
from Waitematā District Health Board (DHB) about multiple declined gastroenterology referrals.
You requested the following information:
The percentage of patients that have been declined referrals from multiple internal and external
requests for gastro-intestinal department - multiple being more than three separate GP/Doctor
referrals.
Your request went to multiple DHBs. On 3 December, you clarified with Canterbury DHB that the
information you were seeking was for the time period from 1 January 2010 to 1 November 2021.
We contacted you on 14 December 2021 to extend the timeframe on our response to your request
until 28 January 2022. This was because our clinicians, managers and other staff were concentrating
their efforts on measures to manage the current COVID-19 outbreak in the region. The time
extension took in to account the national shutdown period for the OIA system which was from close
of business, 24 December 2021, until 17 January 2022.
In response to your request, we are able to provide the following information:
There were 12,493 patients referred from 1 January 2010 to 1 November 2021. Of those patients, 11
had more than three referrals declined, which is 0.088% of all gastroenterology referrals.
In some instances these referrals were declined because:
the patient was transferred to other services such as radiology where computed
tomographic colonography (CTC) is more appropriate and less invasive than a colonoscopy
for certain conditions to rule out cancer
the patient sought private treatment
the case was below the access threshold and was referred back to their GP for care
the patient was transferred to Auckland DHB for treatment and/or follow up
the referral was inappropriate or incomplete
the case did not require specialist review
a clinic appointment was not needed – followed up with a letter from the consultant
the referral was already in our system and being triaged (duplicate referral).
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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
Brad Healey
Acting Executive Director Hospital Services
Waitematā District Health Board
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