More than 30 wheelchairs belonging to Hawke's Bay Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Hospital are missing. The situation is so serious that the DHB's patient-care support services manager, Sally Robertshawe, has declared an amnesty to encourage people to return them.
"This reflects 50 per cent of our fleet of hospital wheelchairs," she said. "I'm not talking about wheelchairs that have been loaned out by our equipment store. I'm talking about wheelchairs in the hospital which have been taken away from the main foyer, the Emergency Department, the Nurses' Memorial Chapel, Villa 1.
"Maybe the person had a use for them at the time, but keeping a wheelchair you don't need is only increasing stress on patients and staff ."
Ms Robertshawe said no questions would be asked when a wheelchair was returned to the main entrance of the Fallen Soldiers' Memorial Hospital, or Napier Health in Wellesley St, Central Hawke's Bay Health Centre or Wairoa Health.
The DHB would also collect the wheelchairs, which cost $800 to $1000, from private addresses.
