KEY POINTS:
The man whose claims that Wanganui Hospital was unsafe sparked a clinical review has called the inquiry a whitewash.
Released yesterday, the independent external review found clinical practice at the hospital was not unsafe, and was acceptable and comparable with the majority of New Zealand's public hospitals.
Clive Solomon, a District Health Board member and former Wanganui Hospital surgeon, was scathing of the report's findings.
"The Minister [of Health] set out to get a review done that was going to con the population of Wanganui and give them a reassurance and confidence in the hospital. He paid for that review and I guess he thinks he's got what he ordered," Mr Solomon said.
The review highlighted several high-profile incidents at the hospital, including:
* An obstetrician who performed several failed sterilisation operations.
* The loss of 166 patient referral letters by the records department.
* Miscommunication between doctors over a woman with cardiac symptoms. The woman later died, and the Health and Disability Commissioner ordered the hospital to review its referral system.
The report revealed the obstetrician, Dr Roman Hasil, had been disciplined after a March 2006 episiotomy where alcohol was smelt on his breath. In October that year Dr Hasil again came to work smelling of alcohol and was immediately suspended.
While he was off work, the faulty tubal ligations came to light. Dr Hasil resigned in March this year.
"This surgeon knew how to do the operation but wasn't doing it correctly," the review said.
"The reviewers speculate this was likely through inattention, distraction by personal stress, and perhaps haste."
The review concluded the hospital was safe, with a low risk of preventable patient injury comparable with other hospitals. "A political sideshow created in the board and community has led to some loss of public confidence in the locally provided health service which is unjustified."
However, the man whose comments spurred the commissioning of the report was adamant Wanganui Hospital did have and still had problems. Mr Solomon said he knew and respected two of the review team, and found it unbelievable they had deduced Wanganui Hospital was safe.
"A review that at least acknowledged there have been some problems that have been looked at and addressed, some people made accountable for and fixed, would have actually gone a long way to restore confidence, but a review that comes along and says there wasn't really anything wrong ... and anything that's wrong in Wanganui you are going to find in any other public hospital you care to go to, is kind of incriminating," Mr Solomon said.
Health Minister Pete Hodgson would not comment on the report, other than to say he would be watching to see its recommendations were implemented.
Local National MP Chester Borrows shared Mr Solomon's concerns about the operation of the hospital and performance of the DHB.
"I don't believe that they have been fully vindicated at all ... I don't believe, for instance, the comment in the report that the Wanganui Hospital, the Whanganui DHB, was no worse off than any other DHB. I don't think that's the record at all."
The New Zealand chairman of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said the report into Wanganui Hospital does not go far enough.
Dr Alec Ekeroma said the Health and Disability Commissioner's report has a far wider scope and has talked to many more people than the report commissioned by the Ministry of Health.
"It's light on analysis and light on recommendations," Dr Ekeroma said.
He said essentially the problems stem from attracting qualified doctors to provincial hospitals.
"It's always harped on about how high the salaries for specialists are in Australia. That is not the entire story. If the human resources departments were working harder to retain health specialists than they would not go," Dr Ekeroma said.
He said health specialists needed to be consulted on how their department was run and acknowledged for their hard work.
"It's not only Wanganui that has these problems. If we're going to fix the problem, let's fix it properly," Dr Ekeroma said.
DHB chairwoman Kate Joblin said the board had had a difficult year, with several highly publicised events it was not proud of. However, the external review and an associated joint review by the board and Ministry of Health put to sleep claims that Wanganui Hospital was not safe.
Ms Joblin said people involved in incidents singled out by the report had received a personal apology from the board.
