Letters: Girl’s mental health mix-up a hospital horror story; Eden Park Super Rugby ticket prices a rip-off

The young girl, who the Herald understands is autistic, received two doses of antipsychotic medication at Henry Bennett Centre at Waikato Hospital. Photo / Michael Craig

Letters to the Editor

Mental health mix-up horror story

When I perused the Herald’s front page story, it read like a fictional horror story (Mar 25).

Although some 11-year-old girls may look older than they are, how was it that not one adult who dealt with her had misgivings about her supposed age? There is a big difference between a mature-looking 11-year-old and a 20-year-old.

When she arrived at the hospital, how is it that an anti-psychotic medicine was administered without formal identification and case notes not being checked?

I was under the impression that a doctor had to sign off before medication can be administered. If so, how is it that a fully qualified doctor could not tell the difference between an 11-year-old and a 20-year-old patient?

This story highlights how poor our health service is and our collective ignorance about disabilities.

Patricia Guptill, Wattle Downs.

Eden Park ripoff

As a Hong Kong-based Kiwi, I recently returned for a short visit home to take in a couple of Super Rugby matches, including the Blues versus Crusaders match at Eden Park last Saturday evening.

I bought three tickets for $67 each, described as “midfield premium” in Section 319 of the Samsung South Stand Level 3. Row B, Seats 12, 13 and 14.

While Row B seats 28-15 are described as having “restricted viewing”, those from 14 through 1 are not. And yet seats 12-14 offered appallingly limited views due to them being placed behind the team dug-out zones.

It would have been impossible to enjoy the match (or even see much of it) from these seats. Fortunately, there were vacant seats higher up, which we took.

But what if this was a sold-out international? What about the poor souls in Row A, Row C (and possibly higher)? For a whopping $201, this is plain unacceptable. And an abuse of the word “premium”. Perhaps given the performance of the Blues, fans would be better off with a restricted view. Is that the Auckland Rugby Union’s thinking?

I hope foreign or out-of-town visitors to the forthcoming All Blacks test matches will not be similarly ripped off.

Martin Moodie, Hong Kong.

Rugby’s deep hole

Elite All Blacks and their money-making capability are canvassed in the Herald (Mar 25). Apparently $1 million to $2m per year, either locally or, for comparison, in a Japanese sabbatical.

Contrast that with some $18m paid to New Zealand’s football organisation after Monday night’s All Whites’ World Cup qualifier competition win at Eden Park, 40% of which goes to the playing group. Further contrast that with the hundreds of thousands of pounds paid to top-flight football players in the English Premier League every week.

New Zealand Rugby is behind the eight ball, stuck in a sand bunker, stumbling at every hurdle, dislodging a high jump bar, and, like the Blues v the Chiefs, last week, bouncing off the upright instead of soaring over the crossbar.

Question: which is the biggest team sport played across Aotearoa? Answer: “The Beautiful Game”.

How did rugby manage to dig such a deep hole and how come they don’t know when to stop digging?

Nigel Meek, Raglan.

Scraping by

Every week I note the dwindling number of food scraps bins on our street.

At the time of the Waste Management and Minimisation Plan 2024 it was noted by Auckland Council that early food scraps collection estimates were circa 32,000 tonnes per annum of food waste and that was expected to grow.

The council had a target of 35-40,000 tonnes per annum which would be around 40% of the estimated household food waste. Sadly, the most recent indications from Ecogas, the processor, are that collections are approximately 27,000 tonnes per annum.

This is 15% below early indications and more than 25% below target. Anecdotal evidence would suggest collection volumes continue to fall.

Unlike the wasteful advertising from Auckland Transport about its own activities, there appears to be little effort in promoting, encouraging or educating Auckland households to change their behaviour with regard to waste. At what point will Auckland Council take responsibility for failing to meet its targets and accept the food scraps collection scheme is either poorly designed or poorly executed.

Will it modify the scheme to make it more useful (including garden waste as Rotorua Lakes Council has indicated) or abandon the scheme and deliver ratepayer relief by scrapping the payment for a service that fewer and fewer households use?

Michael Locke, Mt Eden.

Free speech

According to the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, everyone has the right to freedom of expression, and to impart information. It becomes tiresome and totally unacceptable therefore that representatives from all sides of politics, when speaking publicly, get continually interrupted (Mar 24). It is time that protesters, whatever their thoughts, should understand this and be more forcibly dealt with. Perhaps it is even time to change the law in this regard.

Hylton Le Grice, Remuera.