An independent inquiry into events surrounding a patient’s death at Middlemore Hospital in June has now been completed, Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ says.
That’s despite the fact Health Minister Andrew Little’s office said this week he was still waiting for an update on the review’s terms of reference and time frame.
Te Whatu Ora said the findings would be released this month after they had been presented to Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau, formerly Counties Manukau District Health Board.
In a statement, a spokesperson said the “expert external review” looked at “the triage processes involved” in the woman’s hospital visit.
Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ was approached for more details on when the independent inquiry was carried out and who conducted it.
The patient first arrived at the emergency department about 1am on June 15 with a severe headache. A doctor earlier told media she was told it would likely be hours before she could be seen and left.
The woman returned to the hospital in an ambulance a few hours later after a “massive” brain haemorrhage and died the following day.
Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau released the findings from an internal investigation into the woman’s death on August 24.
It found the ED was “abnormally busy” on the night the patient arrived. She was not assessed and did not register at the front desk.
However, Te Whatu Ora Counties Manukau acting chief medical officer Andrew Connolly, who carried out the investigation, said he was satisfied that she was not declined care or instructed to leave the emergency department.
“The fundamental issue was the excessive demand for assessment and care in the ED; that, in turn, led to excessive waiting time in the department.”
Connolly called for an independent inquiry into the incident as part of his recommendations to determine what, if any, changes were needed.
Last week Minister of Health Andrew Little backed the call for an independent review and said he planned to discuss it with Te Whatu Ora – Health NZ this week.
When his office was approached for an update on Wednesday, they referred the query to Te Whatu Ora as it was dubbed an “operational matter”.
National Party health spokesman Dr Shane Reti said he was surprised by Te Whatu Ora’s comments and said he would expect the minister to be more aware of an independent inquiry if it had indeed been completed.
He said the minister of health may have been kept in the dark about the review.
“But it would require his sign-off to conduct a review like this which includes political risk,” Reti said.
“I can’t imagine it was carried out in that timeframe and if it was, who conducted it? But that doesn’t align with the minister’s comments. The whole thing is bizarre.”
