Nurses say the Gisborne anaesthetist at the centre of a syringe scare allegedly threw dirty needles across operating theatres and rubbed ice cubes over women's breasts to check the level of numbness.
They also say that Gisborne Hospital ignored their repeated complaints over these and other patient safety issues.
Nurses Organisation chief executive Brenda Wilson said nurses were told to stop writing incident reports and apologise to the anaesthetist after they complained about his practices.
The organisation is calling for urgent action over the standard of patient care at Gisborne Hospital.
Ms Wilson has written to the Minister of Health seeking an independent audit of charts of intensive care and surgery patients for the past three months.
In a statement, Tairawhiti Health chief executive Sheryl Smail said a meeting had been scheduled with staff for later this month to discuss the most recent allegations about the anaesthetist's practices.
A review was already in place to investigate nurses' concerns that their complaints had been ignored.
This month Tairawhiti Healthcare contacted 134 people who underwent surgery at the hospital to tell them they might have contracted hepatitis B, C and HIV after a locum anaesthetist re-used syringes.
A memo sent to Ms Wilson detailing nurses' reports included incidents in which the anaesthetist involved in the syringe scare also allegedly threw sharps [syringes and bloody needles] at random when things did not go smoothly; cut or ripped gowns off patients, invariably women; and rubbed ice cubes over women's breasts for long times to ascertain the level of block established.
The Health Ministry's chief health adviser, Dr Bob Boyd, said there would be a thorough independent review of the hospital's theatre protocols, quality control systems and incident-reporting procedures.
- NZPA
Nurses: anaesthetist threw dirty needles about
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