Mataroa family reimbursed for hip spica chair

A family who were told to get a bean bag for their son while he recovered from an operation are being reimbursed for a $2600 chair they bought instead.

The Whanganui District Health Board have agreed to buy the hip spica chair off the family "in good faith", and the payment is currently being processed, chief executive Julie Patterson said.

Deborah and Philip Mikkelsen bought the chair after their 5-year-old son Anders, who has Down Syndrome, had a hip operation in Starship Hospital in Auckland.

The operation left Anders' legs in a cast, from his waist to his ankles, and his parents were told aftercare would be provided by the Whanganui District Health Board.

The Mikkelsens, who live in Mataroa, near Taihape which is a 90 minute drive from Whanganui Hospital, asked for a hospital bed and the hip spica chair - a piece of equipment that would allow Anders to sit up without help.

A wheelchair and harness were delivered to them, but they said neither was suitable and instead fashioned their own wheelchair from a pushchair they found in the shed.

The hospital sent them the requested items, but by the time the hospital bed arrived the Mikkelsens had hired a private bed for $60 a week. They said the hip spica trolley was too small, and the second wheelchair sent by the hospital was not suitable.

They then bought their own spica chair, which cost them $2600.

Mrs Mikkelsen also wanted her son assessed by an occupational therapist, but was told there would be a delay.

Senior hospital staff visited the Mikkelsens on Thursday last week to discuss their concerns.

It was a complex situation which involved three DHBs plus other health agencies that the Mikkelsens had involved.

Julie Patterson

"While Starship had recommended that the Mikkelsens use a bean bag for Anders, the WDHB has subsequently received assessments from an occupational therapist and a physiotherapist who both recommended the family use a hip spica chair," Ms Patterson said.

"It's important to note that Whanganui DHB continues to hold the view that the Starship assessment was not inadequate and that the Whanganui assessment was done in the context of Anders' having used the spica chair for some weeks.

"In good faith, the WDHB is honouring the outcome of the second assessment and agree to purchase the chair from the family once Anders' need for it has finished."

Ms Patterson said the health board was "disappointed that the media jumped to conclusions and described our care of Anders as diabolical".

"It was a complex situation which involved three DHBs plus other health agencies that the Mikkelsens had involved."

Comments that Anders' care was "diabolical" came from Mrs Mikkelsen.