KEY POINTS:
Problems keep mounting for Grey Hospital, which is already the subject of an independent Health Ministry investigation.
Senior hospital doctor Judy Forbes last week said patient safety was at risk from mistakes arising from a new booking system, and an "endless stream" of locums.
Her allegations were picked up in Parliament, with Health Minister David Cunliffe saying an urgent review had started.
Recent problems followed the theatre booking system being moved from surgeons and replaced by a central booking office at reception, managed by IT staff.
Now, a Buller woman says she made a round trip of over 270km to Grey Hospital for an ultrasound, but the hospital had lost the results less than a month later.
Lesley Towart, a 52-year-old sculptor, of Granity, was the latest to speak out following concerns by senior doctors about patient safety at the hospital.
Ms Towart said she drove from Granity - 29km north of Westport - to Greymouth on February 14 for the ultrasound to investigate a mass in her stomach.
She returned to Greymouth on March 10 to see a gynaecologist to discuss the results.
"The results of that ultrasound were nowhere to be found, they had been lost somewhere in the system and there was no record of my having been there for the ultrasound."
She had another ultrasound.
West Coast District Health Board (WCDHB) chief executive Kevin Hague said he was frustrated the media kept running stories from people unhappy with their experience of health services.
"It is much more constructive to instead raise their complaints with the DHB, and I would encourage Lesley to do so.
"That allows us to carry out a proper investigation, including giving staff involved the opportunity to give their side of the story, and then provides various ways of resolving the complaint, including appeal processes if the person is not satisfied with the outcome."
Raising a complaint with the media put the DHB in an unfair position, he said.
Clinical DHB staff had higher priorities today than responding to media inquiries. He looked forward to receiving the complaint through "normal channels".
- NZPA
