KEY POINTS:
Patients were not harmed by a bogus nurse who did the rounds at Christchurch hospitals late last year, Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson has found.
Mr Paterson's inquiry looked into the circumstances which allowed Turori Chapman to fraudulently obtain an identity badge from the Canterbury District Health Board, giving him access to patient areas, patient information and patients at three Christchurch hospitals from October 6 to 10 last year.
The investigation found that although the systems in place to obtain an identity badge at the DHB were imperfect, this became apparent only when examined in the light of Mr Chapman's calculated attempt at deception.
"Patients and their families put great trust in hospital staff and it is essential that hospitals have systems that are secure enough to prevent abuse," Mr Paterson said.
"In this case, a dishonest yet plausible person was able to circumvent the systems to enable him to obtain a seemingly legitimate identity card."
The DHB's own investigation found that Chapman did not care for patients or use medical equipment.
Mr Paterson said he was satisfied that no patient came to harm as a result of Mr Chapman's actions, and that the DHB acted appropriately after the incident by tightening up security.
The DHB has been asked to report to Mr Paterson by the end of May on the results of an audit into compliance with the new identity badge procedure.
Chapman was jailed for two years and three months in Wanganui District Court last month on 34 charges of fraud and four of impersonating a nurse.
Crown prosecutor Andrew Cameron said Chapman's record of more than 100 offences included at least six when he had passed himself off as a woman police officer.
Chapman appeared to have "a serious need" for a sense of power or authority and achieved that by impersonating authority figures, he told the court.
- NZPA
