Report on elderly patient care expected to be harsh

A report on the standard of care provided to four elderly patients in North Shore Hospital is expected to be scathing.

Of the four admitted via the hospital's emergency department during a trouble-plagued winter in 2007, three died.

The inquiry by Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson, whose findings will be released next week, followed a public outcry.

A source told the Herald he understood the document would be "very critical" of the hospital's treatment of the patients. It was not known which services would be most criticised.

Mr Paterson had said all of the patients were aged over 70 and had "multiple serious health problems".

An inquiry was prompted by complaints to the commissioner's office. The inquiry scrutinised 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.

"We ... had a number of complaints and these particular complaints raised similar issues that I felt warranted an inquiry," Mr Paterson said.

The hospital's emergency department endured a particularly difficult winter with staff shortages threatening to shut the department.

Long waits, often on trolleys in corridors, were common. At one point, ambulances were used as makeshift emergency rooms as the department struggled with an influx of patients.

The following year, the health board added 25 beds to ease the winter gridlock. Ministry of Health monitoring also showed that waiting times had improved.