KEY POINTS:
An inquiry is under way into the standard of care provided to four elderly patients at North Shore Hospital during its trouble-plagued winter last year.
Of the four admitted via the hospital's emergency department, three died.
But Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) Ron Paterson, who is initiating the inquiry, said all were aged over 70 and had "multiple serious health problems".
The move has been prompted by complaints to the commissioner's office, and the inquiry will scrutinise the standard of care and adequacy of information provided to the patients, who attended the hospital's emergency department and two medical wards between July 1 and October 31.
The hospital's emergency department endured a particularly difficult winter, with staff shortages threatening to shut the entire department.
Long waits, often on trolleys in corridors, were commonplace. At one point, ambulances were used as makeshift emergency rooms as the department struggled to cope with an influx of patients which kept the hospital running at full occupancy for much of winter.
Mr Paterson said he visited the hospital last year following public outcry.
"We also had a number of complaints and these particular complaints raised similar issues that I felt warranted an inquiry.
"It was really about what was happening in the emergency department and, for some patients, what happened when they then got admitted into the medical wards."
In a statement, the Waitemata District Health Board, which governs North Shore Hospital, said it welcomed the review. "The HDC may or may not provide Waitemata DHB with recommendations for improvement in these areas and we will be committed to modifying or changing our systems wherever necessary to better treat and care for patients if this is the case," the statement read.
The health board has pledged an extra 25 beds to ease the winter gridlock.
National health spokesman Tony Ryall also welcomed the inquiry.
"This may be the circuit-breaker North Shore patients and hospital staff have been hoping for.
"We look forward to this investigation and its findings and hope it's a catalyst for change."
Ministry of Health monitoring last March found the Waitemata District Health Board's emergency departments in North Shore and Waitakere to be the worst in the country at meeting the recommended times for treating the most urgent cases.
But latest data from the ministry shows the problem has since been rectified, with the emergency departments seeing all of the most serious cases immediately.
It was, however, not meeting targets for patients who should be seen by a doctor within 10 and 30 minutes. These include those with head injuries but who are conscious, and people with major bleeding.
Under the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994, the commissioner may investigate any action that is, or appears to be, in breach of the code on consumers' rights, and may initiate an inquiry and can investigate systemic issues.
