We're not so bad, says hospital

By ROSALEEN MacBRAYNE

Tauranga Hospital launched a public relations blitz yesterday to counter growing criticism of unnecessary deaths at the hospital.

Staff and managers lined up to present their side of the story and to assure patients that things were improving.

The emergency department's nurse manager, Lee Allsop, said comments such as "we know you kill people here" were not uncommon. It got worse each time there was bad publicity about any emergency department.

"We just have to take it on the chin and say we will look after them as best we can," she said. "People are stressed being here and they get impatient when they know they are going to have to wait. We understand that.

"I think some don't consider us as having feelings too. They need to understand we are working as hard as we can and doing the best we can.

"An adverse outcome for any patient breaks our hearts too. But I don't expect any of my staff to come to work to be abused.

"We have a zero-tolerance policy and security are called very quickly if people get stroppy."

Manager Alan Wilson said the bad press had created a perception that "everything is suddenly turning to custard". Nothing could be further from the truth, he said.

"EDs are always busy and under pressure coping with the peaks and troughs of demand."

The hospital acknowledged three cases where people had died because of questionable care in the emergency department. A 62-year-old woman had a dissecting aortic aneurism, a 64-year-old man a pulmonary embolism and a 24-year-old man meningococcal septicaemia.

Results of a Ministry of Health audit into the deaths requested by Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson are expected soon.

This month a fourth complaint was laid with Mr Paterson by the family of a woman who went in to the emergency department three times in 11 days with excruciating headaches, collapsing into a coma on her final visit.

A scan diagnosed a brain haemorrhage and she was airlifted to Auckland Hospital, where she died five days later when life support was stopped.

The other cases went back three years and changes had been made since, said Mr Wilson.

Previous investigations had shown Tauranga Hospital provided a good standard of emergency services for an average of 95 people a day.

Clinical director of emergency services Derek Sage said Tauranga was "not dissimilar" to any other emergency department in New Zealand.

"And like every other public hospital, we could always do with more resources."

Local man Kelvin Carpenter was happy with the prompt attention he received yesterday for a knee infection.

"I was expecting a long wait but it was only a couple of hours," said fiancee Jan Arrowsmith. "You hear people have to wait for hours on end."

Tauranga Hospital

Patient deaths under "questionable" emergency care

June 2000: A 62-year-old woman dies of a dissecting aortic aneurism, which leads to cardiac arrest, after doctors fail to recognise and treat the condition.

June 2001: A 64-year-old man with life-threatening DVT (deep vein thrombosis) in his leg dies after waiting four hours to see a doctor.

December 2001: 24-year-old Hohaia Tangiora dies of meningococcal septicaemia after doctors fail to recognise and treat his condition.

June 2002: Anne Dickson, 53, dies of a brain haemorrhage after three visits complaining of excruciating headaches.