A fired nurse has claimed another $3500 in her battle with the Auckland District Health Board.
Judith Lee, a 15-year-veteran, was fired from her job with the DHB in July after repeated disciplinary breaches, including telling "terrified" dialysis patients at Auckland City Hospital to "steri strip yourself".
Despite strong evidence showing Ms Lee had behaved inappropriately and provided sub-standard care to patients - including verbally abusing patients, sleeping on the job and spending hours surfing the Internet - the board's inadequate complaints processes in her case meant she was able to prove to the Employment Relations Authority that she had been wrongly dismissed.
She was awarded $2500 compensation for wrongful dismissal.
Both staff and patients had complained about her conduct, with one incident detailing how she had failed to correctly disconnect dialysis tubing resulting in blood on the floor and her shoes, the initial decision on her case stated.
