Emergency Medicine: A Year at Oamaru Hospital

Streaming video - 2015

We spent a year filming with the staff and patients of Oamaru Hospital - a small 30 bed hospital in Rural New Zealand. At the time their funding was - and still is under threat. The DHB propose cutting half a million dollars from the hospital's budget. This film is the result. The story is told through the experiences of the people at the sharp end of health care. Over the months, this dedicated team faces a multitude of challenges, not all of them medical. Balancing the books and and “ticking the boxes” can be as demanding - and almost as stressful – as saving the life of a child. While management struggles to fill vacancies, staff routinely go far beyond their job description, skipping meal breaks and staying late night after n...ight to fill the yawning gaps in the roster, working with whatever is available to ensure their community gets the health care it needs. What drives these people is their desire to help others, and save lives. But as they know only too well, not everyone can be saved…. A gritty and realistic look at what it is REALLY like working on the medical front line.. more