The head of the Health New Zealand team looking into issues at Nelson Hospital says he hopes to have some answers in the coming weeks, but solutions may be a different story.
Dr Richard Sullivan is the chief clinical officer for Health NZ and leading the team, announced last week after a series of 1News stories. Senior doctors told 1News they had for months, if not years, been raising concerns about how staffing levels were impacting patients.
“So, part of the reason why we’re here is to support the team and go okay there’s been some concerns raised and so we need to work alongside the teams to really understand what that looks like,” he said.
Some members of the team arrived in Nelson last week but Dr Sullivan’s first day on the ground was today. He told 1News: “I am very confident things will change.”
The team is continuing to meet with hospital staff before reporting back.
“I would hope we will have some answers within weeks, but the solutions are not going to be easy fix,” he said.
Dr Sullivan used the example of one department that had three long-term vacancies for doctors that it has been unable to fill.
They are looking to a variety of issues, including: the patient cases highlighted by 1News, staffing levels, complaints data, and the state of the hospital buildings.
He said the team’s findings will be shared with Nelson staff first.
“We’ll certainly be making some of the findings public whether we make the full reports public we haven’t decided yet.”
On that matter, Health Minister Simeon Brown said: “I am sure it will be released, the first point is they need to go do the work.”
‘Cautiously optimistic’
Dr Katie Ben is an anaesthetist at Nelson Hospital and the president of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists.
She described the staff sentiment as “cynical, but cautiously optimistic”.
“There is a move that actually we may be able to effect some real change for the hospital.”
She said some staff were unhappy about comments made by Health New Zealand’s South Island boss Martin Keogh about Nelson’s emergency department.
Keogh told 1News last month: “They are leading the nation in terms of our ED performance, in terms of timely care.”
The claim was refuted by emergency medicine specialist Dr Andrew Munro, who said at the time, “We’ve got patients waiting upwards of 24 hours, 48 hours, 50 hours in the emergency department.”
Dr Ben said Keogh told staff in a meeting last week: “Everyone makes mistakes. I got it wrong.”
“It’s just a little bit unfortunate that he went on national TV with the wrong data,” she said.
But in a statement late this afternoon, Keogh told 1News: “I stand by my comments around being proud of the Nelson Hospital team in providing timely emergency care to their community and being one of the best performers in the country.”
The latest data shows that Nelson and Blenheim EDs were both ranked 8 out of 20 for shorter stays in emergency departments. Keogh said the issues in Nelson are not to do with the department, but the lack of beds in the wider hospital.
The Office of the Health and Disability Commissioner is keeping an eye on the situation. In a statement, it said: “We continue to monitor complaints about Nelson Hospital, and will follow up with Health NZ about what action they are taking to address identified issues.”
The Health and Disability Commissioner’s office previously said it had looked into issues such as the delay in cancer treatment in the southern region. Anyone with concerns about care in Nelson has been asked to get in touch.
Labour’s health spokesperson Ayesha Verall said in-depth reports “are really helpful for getting on top of problems and making sure lasting solutions are put in place”.
1News has repeatedly asked for interviews with Health New Zealand’s boss in the Nelson region, Lexie O’Shea, but has not had a response.
