Thanks to all who responded to Grey Power’s elective surgery online survey in October. More than 400 responded and the data was extremely useful in briefing politicians at a recent parliamentary advocacy visit.
The survey was restricted to those who had been on a hospital waiting list for surgery, or referred to a specialist for assessment for surgery in the last 12 months. In hindsight we should have probably included those who had been on for a longer period. See table below.
SURVEY DATA
What was alarming was the adverse impact on daily health and family of those surveyed. See graph below.
A dismayingly high per cent of the respondents reported a high or severe impact on a range of health symptoms, with significantly higher percentage suffering if they were seeking hip or knee surgery. Impact on family was also significantly higher in this group, confirming that the health burden does not just rest on the patient, but also on their wider whanau.
While 11% of respondents were refused surgery, their symptoms were not significantly different from the entire sample.
Although a minority opted for Private care, 60% did so because they could not wait for the public system to take them.
Over 75% of those choosing public care stated that they could not afford the cost of a private operation.
This is only a highlight of some of the topline results. It would be great to have more sub-analyses completed so, if you have expertise in creating and analysing
SurveyMonkey please contact me, email national.vicepresident@greypower.co.nz.
