Gisborne Hospital Report - Health and Disability Commissioner

Gisborne Hospital 1999 – 2000
PSA Testing Procedures
involved meant that most senior staff were often not available during the day.”
Mr Grant wrote that the “combined on-call and call back cost was close to
$150,000” per annum.
5.9 THL advised the investigation team that the staff count in July 2000 was 15.6
FTEs and in December 2000 17.6 FTEs. Since November 2000 two qualified
and two unqualified staff have resigned. The 17.6 staff members include four
laboratory assistants who have been employed “in an effort to overcome staff
shortages”. THL is currently talking to a number of qualified prospective
employees.
5.10 A locum technician explained how staffing levels impact on the on-call roster.
Because the laboratory had insufficient staff to operate adequately 24 hours a
day, staff had to be on-call on a regular basis. Contractual arrangements
govern the length of breaks between callbacks, and it is common for someone
to be absent as the direct result of a series of calls during the night. The cost
of call-outs for the period 1/2/2000 to 31/7/2000 totalled $54,316. This
equates to $108,632 per annum.
5.11 Mr John Sharman (consultant biochemist, and presently acting Laboratory
Manager) wrote a special report on staffing (31 July 2000). His comments on
biochemistry staffing were:
“The section head position is vacant and needs to be filled as a matter of
urgency. It is imperative that the person appointed be scrutinised
carefully to ensure that the required skills are present and that
competence to do the job can be established.”
5.12 The nominal level of biochemistry staff assisting the section head was 2.5
FTEs. This is made up of two technologists in 1.5 FTE positions and a
laboratory assistant occupying a 1 FTE position but seconded for half of his
time to microbiology for training and to cover a staffing shortfall there. The
section needs sufficient staff to carry out the routine work while releasing the
section head to carry out essential background tasks. These tasks include:
implementation and maintenance of quality control processes, staff training
and education, review and maintenance of manuals, and cover for leave.
5.13 The 1998 IANZ Accreditation Report commented that there were insufficient
staff. This situation went unremedied.
Accreditation history
5.14 As a result of an IANZ routine assessment, in late 1998, the biochemistry
section accreditation was suspended in November 1998. The Laboratory
Manager advised the investigation team that the accreditation was lost for the
following reasons: there were no records of when quality controls were made
on the analysers; samples were being sent out of the Laboratory before they
were ready; and work was going out on uncontrolled samples/specimens. The
report stated that the decision to suspend registration did not reflect on the
personal abilities of individual staff working in Clinical Biochemistry.
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