Gisborne Hospital Report - Health and Disability Commissioner

Chapter 1
Introduction and Environment
1. INTRODUCTION
Concerns about patient safety at Gisborne Hospital
1.1 On 13 June 2000 Brenda Wilson, Chief Executive of the New Zealand Nurses
Organisation (NZNO), visited Gisborne Hospital and met with nursing staff.
Ms Wilson also met briefly with the Chief Executive and advised in general
terms that, on the basis of her discussions with nursing staff and local NZNO
representatives, she had a number of serious concerns about patient safety at
Gisborne Hospital. Specifics were not discussed.
1.2 On 14 June NZNO wrote to the Minister of Health expressing concern about
standards of care at Gisborne Hospital, seeking an independent review and
noting that NZNO would not have confidence in a review undertaken by the
Ministry of Health. This letter attached two documents: the first, a
memorandum dated 1 June 2000 from a regional NZNO representative to
NZNO head office outlining a number of issues of concern in relation to Dr
Lucas – including re-use of anaesthetic syringes and Gisborne Hospital’s
response to this issue; the second, an anonymous letter from a nurse at
Gisborne Hospital which expressed concerns about “increasingly poor levels
of medical, surgical and management practices and accountability”. The
writer described five recent cases of alleged inadequate patient care. These
documents are set out in the Appendix.
1.3 Tairawhiti Healthcare Ltd (THL) learnt of NZNO’s complaint to the Minister
of Health and its concerns about patient safety from a Radio New Zealand
news story the following day, 15 June. In a discussion with NZNO
representatives on 20 June, the Chief Executive requested that NZNO provide
Tairawhiti Healthcare with the names of patients cited in the anonymous letter,
so that it could investigate. NZNO refused to provide the names of the
patients and instead responded by advising that it wanted an independent
retrospective audit of ICU and surgical cases over the last three months. The
reason NZNO gave THL for refusing to provide the names of the patients was
that the nurse who had provided the information requested anonymity.
1.4 In a Radio New Zealand interview on 16 June, NZNO called for an
investigation by the Health and Disability Commissioner. This call was
repeated in the media over the following days. However, at no stage did
NZNO approach the Commissioner and exercise the right that any person has
under section 31 of the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994 to make
a complaint to the Commissioner.
1.5 By a letter to NZNO dated 23 June, the Chief Executive again requested the
names of the patients and stated that “it is simply not acceptable (legally or
ethically) for registered health professionals to refuse to disclose to the HHS
[public hospital] relevant information, while complaining to other authorities