Commission called to probe hospital

Ex-Health and Disability Commissioner Robyn Stent. Photo / Paul Estcourt

A former Health and Disability Commissioner has called for an inquiry into the Starship Children's Hospital child protection unit, saying it is wrongly accusing parents of child abuse.

Robyn Stent said the unit treated parents as guilty until proven innocent, and she wanted the current Health and Disability Commissioner, Anthony Hill, to investigate.

She was concerned the unit did not have proper written procedures for abuse cases and was not profiling families to determine the likelihood of abuse, she told the Sunday Star-Times.

Ms Stent's stepdaughter was suspected of assault when the haematoma on her baby's head developed as a result of a difficult birth, and she said the unit was like a ``police station''.

The unit was set up in 2002 as a co-ordinated approach to child abuse involving Child, Youth and Family and police.

It was criticised recently by district court judge David McNaughton, who said Starship doctors did not consider all the evidence in the case of Auckland father Famaile Lino, who was cleared on charges of causing grievous bodily harm to his baby daughter.

A spokesperson for Mr Hill told the newspaper they were aware of the issue but it was not appropriate to comment because ``we may get complaints about the issue and we have to assess each case on the information, and then decide what action to take''.

Starship had changed some of its procedures as part of the resolution process with Ms Stent's family, and now provided better information to families going through an investigation, Auckland District Health Board spokeswoman Kay Hyman said.

However, investigations were sometimes ``uncomfortable'' for parents as the unit's first obligation was to the child.

- NZPA