KEY POINTS:
A heavily pregnant West Coast woman, who was sent to Christchurch Hospital, says she was "abandoned" in the city with $40 of McDonald's vouchers and then told to find her own way home.
But West Coast District Health Board said the woman received the appropriate treatment.
When 34-weeks pregnant Selena Malzard, from Runanga, turned up at Grey Base Hospital on July 25 her contractions were five and 10 minutes apart.
The hospital staff suggested she drive herself to Christchurch for the necessary medical care, due to the reduced obstetrics services at Greymouth last month.
When she objected to driving she was told she would be going by ambulance, but that also fell through when she was told the "under-staffed and overworked" ambulance staff were too busy to drive her to Christchurch.
Finally, late that night, she and her partner were flown to Christchurch, armed with McDonald's vouchers handed out by the West Coast DHB.
Once in the city the contractions stopped and she was discharged from hospital and told to find her own way home.
"I asked to talk to a social worker to try and sort something out."
However, she was told social workers did not work weekends so the couple was booked into a motel to wait until Monday to get things sorted out.
"I couldn't even walk to McDonald's. I am disgusted with the treatment and the way my partner and myself were abandoned," she said.
On Monday they were told to catch a bus but Ms Malzard was hesitant about that option due to the winter road conditions and needed to return as her other two children had been billeted out to different homes while she and her partner were in Christchurch.
She said no to the bus and suggested a rental car.
When the rental car was eventually approved it was 4pm and the couple then had to drive home to Runanga at night time in winter conditions on Arthur's Pass.
Ms Malzard said the "ordeal" had been stressful and should not have happened.
West Coast DHB former chief executive Kevin Hague was adamant that she had received all the appropriate care.
"The correct thing to occur here is for this woman, if she has a complaint about the service she received, to first raise it with us (she has not done so), and if she is dissatisfied with our response, to pursue it through formal channels."
Ms Malzard said she believed she had been transferred to Christchurch in the first place because medical staff at Greymouth panicked.
Mr Hague said "all prudent and appropriate procedures were followed" and would be the same if specialists had been present in Greymouth, to ensure the safety of mother and baby.
- NZPA
