KEY POINTS:
Delays like the one contributing to the death of a pregnant woman and her baby are inevitable because of the way hospitals are funded, the Cardiac Society says.
A Health and Disability Commissioner report released at the weekend investigated the care of a pregnant woman with a chronic heart condition and her baby, who both died in hospital.
It blamed "poor external and internal communications and inadequate care planning" for the woman's death and said the delay in assessing the woman's heart condition contributed to the outcome.
The dead woman, called Ms B in the report, became pregnant in early 2004.
Thirty weeks later, her baby was stillborn after an emergency Caesarean. The woman died in an unnamed hospital's cardiac wing four hours afterwards.
Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson criticised the 15-week delay in assessing the woman's heart condition as it related to her pregnancy and said with full and timely information Ms B may have survived.
John Elliott, of the Cardiac Society of Australia and New Zealand, said such deaths were a consequence of waiting times.
"I think it's an inevitable outcome of the waiting lists that we operate under that people do die or have an unfortunate outcome or an emergency hospital admission while waiting on a waiting list," he told Radio New Zealand.
"It's a fact of waiting lists and a fact of the way public hospitals are funded in New Zealand."
The Ministry of Health's clinical director of elective services Ray Naden said waiting times were an issue.
"Patients do have to wait longer than would be desirable to see a specialist," Dr Naden said.
"Those who are urgent are generally seen promptly, but it's the patients who are less urgent who tend to have to wait longer than would be desirable."
Both district health boards involved in the pregnant woman's case had reviewed their processes and cardiology consultations of pregnant women were now given urgent priority, Radio New Zealand reported.
The woman's sister, who brought the complaint to the commissioner, said Ms B's wishes had been overridden and minimised by the medical staff.
- NZPA
