But Thomas felt no one was willing to ask the gang members to put a mask on.
In documents released to RNZ under the Official Information Act, Te Whatu Ora said Hawke’s Bay was the only region that had recorded complaints relating to gangs in 2022.
There was one internal and one external complaint.
No further details were provided.
Auckland, Bay of Plenty, Canterbury West Coast, Counties Manukau, Southern, Tairāwhiti, Waikato and Wairarapa all said they had received no complaints relating to gangs.
Waitematā had no internal complaints but refused to give external complaints because “the information requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research”.
The rest of the regions did not “capture internal or external complaint information” specific to gangs.
Again, Te Whatu Ora said it would take too much time “to extract and manually review individual complaint files”, so refused the request.
It did not know which hospital had received the most gang-related complaints or if complaints involving gang members were increasing because “Te Whatu Ora does not capture this information in a consistent manner”.
Te Whatu Ora also had no national policy on how staff should approach situations involving gang members.
Instead each region was left to create its own security guidelines.
Te Whatu Ora confirmed 11 regions used the Prohibition of Gang Insignia in Government Premises Act 2013 as “the guiding legislation when dealing with gangs”.
Under the act, “no person may display gang insignia at any time, without reasonable excuse, in government premises”.
The maximum fine was $2000.
Hawke’s Bay said it also “endeavours to mitigate risk and ensure the safety of staff, patients, and visitors on hospital grounds. If required, there are robust communication processes and strong partnerships between police and duty managers”.
In Canterbury and West Coast, “gang members are treated the same as any member of the public and are expected to adhere to hospital protocols as are any visitors”.
If staff were concerned by any behaviour, they could contact security teams or police to intervene.
Te Whatu Ora security staff in Counties Manukau mitigated risk by asking for gang patches not to be worn inside facilities and using de-escalation techniques.
Southern aimed to “where possible, liaise with a gang spokesperson or whānau member about visiting arrangements, wearing of gang insignia in Te Whatu Ora hospitals [sic].”.
If gang members were admitted to the region’s emergency departments, security members would remain nearby and “will escalate to police if there are any signs of aggression or intimidation” that jeopardised the safety of staff, patients and visitors.
Waikato said: “Staff do not discriminate against gang members. If there is criminal behaviour the police are called, but the same would apply to anyone whether or not they are a part of a gang.”
It had a 12-page security policy that was implemented in 2021 and was due to be reviewed next year.
Similarly, Wairarapa said “the police can be called at any time to assist with any intimidating or anti-social behaviours exhibited by ANY member of the public [sic]”.
MidCentral (Manawatū) also had extensive policies on safety, security and visitors.
Its visitor policy said: “Visitors are expected to comply with the requirements of all notices and instructions from staff within the facility they are visiting.
“They will be asked to leave should there be evidence of continued failure to abide by any Te Whatu Ora policies.
“Any form of aggressive behaviour, including verbal abuse, will not be tolerated. Security and/or police will be called and the person(s) asked to leave [sic].”
Whanganui, Taranaki and Bay of Plenty had no specific reference to gangs in their security protocol.
