Category: Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A minutes-old baby, who died on his mother’s chest while she was sutured up following his birth, should have been checked more regularly by the midwife tasked with their care, the Health and Disability Commissioner has found.

According to a decision released on Monday by deputy commissioner Rose Wall, the midwife in question breached protocol by failing to check the baby – known as Baby A throughout the report – herself in the hour after his birth.

The incident occurred in August 2019, when the mother – known in the report as Ms A – gave birth at 38 weeks to Baby A at 11.16am with no complications. Baby A was healthy, and placed on his mother’s chest for breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact.

But Ms A had sustained a second-degree perineal tear during labour, which required suturing. The midwife who had been assisting during labour. Midwife A, left the room following the birth of the placenta, and Ms A’s partner also left the room to make a phone call.

Ms A said the second midwife, Midwife B, also briefly left the room to collect equipment for suturing, returned, and checked Baby A before she began perineal suturing.

Suturing began at 12.05pm, and the midwife estimated that the procedure was finished within 20 minutes.

Ms A was provided nitrous oxide gas for pain relief, and Baby A lay skin-to-skin with Ms A throughout.

The commissioner notes from Midwife B’s position at the end of the bed, she was unable to see Baby A’s face while she was suturing.

She said she recalled checking with Ms A twice during the procedure about Baby A’s condition – if he was warm enough and what he was doing – to which Ms A replied that he was warm and that he was sleeping.

When suturing was completed, the midwife briefly left the room to turn on the shower for the mother, and at 12.30pm, she lifted Baby A up to complete a full postnatal check.

But upon picking him up, Midwife B realised he was unresponsive and had stopped breathing.

Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. The Coronial post-mortem report found that the probable cause of Baby A’s death was accidental asphyxiation.

A group called Action to Improve Maternity, in advice to the commissioner, said the midwife should have made her own observations of Baby A’s condition, and it was inappropriate to rely on Ms A’s opinion as she may have been experiencing side effects from the nitrous oxide gas.

Ministry of Health’s guidelines say all mothers and their babies must receive “active and ongoing assessment in the immediate postnatal period” and “the mother and baby should not be left alone – even for a short time” within the hour after birth.

The commissioner finds: “It would have been appropriate for RM B to remove Baby A from skin-to-skin contact for the duration of the procedure or to delay the suturing until another person was available to appropriately monitor him. I am therefore critical of RM B’s failure to adhere to the guidelines for supervision of mother and baby following birth.”

The midwife told the commissioner she accepted she had breached protocol, and provided a letter of apology for forwarding to Baby A’s whānau.

She had since retired from midwifery practice, and the Council had confirmed she did not renew her practising certificate when it expired on 21 March 2022.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

• Last permanent doctor at Palmerston North Hospital gastroenterology department worries about patients with chronic conditions when he leaves
• Dr James Irwin says temporary staff will offer transactional care
• One patient feels left in the lurch
• Health NZ says its recruiting to the service and it’s doing its best to minimise effects on patients

A long-term patient of Palmerston North Hospital’s gastroenterology department is concerned about the care he will receive when the last permanent doctor leaves next month.

Over recent years the service, which focuses on patients suffering from problems with their digestive systems, has struggled to attract specialists to work there.

One left for another hospital on Friday, and the last doctor finishes in June.

Temporary and locum doctors will fill the gaps, and Health NZ said it had sent out offers of employment to new recruits. It said it was committed to making sure there’s only a minimal effect on patients.

‘Left in the lurch’

Brett Cribb was diagnosed with irritable bowel disease 11 years ago and has since been under the care of the department.

The 45-year-old Palmerston North educator, assistant principal at Monrad Intermediate, is concerned about the loss of permanent staff. The last specialist, Dr James Irwin, finishes in a few weeks.

Cribb worries chronic patients will be left in limbo.

“It’s pretty hard for us. Where are we going to go? Yes, there are other people in there, but when you go to see an expert you want an expert in that field.

“I would feel sorry for someone having to read through 11 years of my notes, because they’re pretty full-on, but [ Irwin] knows them like the back of his hand.”

Cribb said he would like to see specialists incentivised to work at smaller centres.

“Are there any sweeteners that can be given? Who is training to work in gastro?

“I think that’s probably the biggest part – yes people finish, like us in the education sector, but there is a little bit of a sustainable plan at the end. I feel like we’re probably been left in the lurch a little bit here.”

Cribb praised the work of all the specialists he had seen down the years and was gutted to see them leave. Initially, he was facing the removal of his bowel, but has instead been given different medications to control his condition.

“To be able to lead the life I live, I’m pretty normal. I can get up, I can go for a run. I can play touch, rugby league, tennis. I’m not restricted at the moment, but I am regularly taking blood tests.

“Dr Irwin’s monitoring me. I get to see him probably twice a year.”

Risk in transactional model – doctor

But Irwin has handed in his resignation, citing workload pressures, a lack of colleagues and frustration that Health NZ had not found a way to attract specialists to the provinces.

The Palmerston North service was funded to employ 5.6 full-time equivalent specialists.

For Irwin, the care of people with chronic conditions worried him the most when the department was staffed only by temporary specialists.

“There’s far less of a focus on chronic disease management, although as a gastroenterologist more than half my time is spent managing people with a chronic disease, like Brett – so people with inflammatory bowel disease or people with chronic hepatology conditions.”

It was unlikely locums could provide long-term continuity of care, he said.

“In our department we’ve got about 1100 people who are waiting [for] an appointment in our clinic. There’s really little capacity to provide that service.

“At the moment those people, like Brett, are out in the community, really without a lot of supervision for their condition. If they’re well, no trouble. When they become unwell it’s more difficult.”

Health NZ said 280 patients were waiting for a first appointment with a specialist, as at 14 April, and 913 were waiting for treatment, including endoscopy procedures.

Irwin said conditions at smaller hospitals needed to improve. Specialists at larger hospitals were on call less and had more non-patient-contact time.

If nothing changed, Health NZ would have to keep providing temporary solutions, because there wasn’t an incentive for specialists to move to smaller regions.

“I think that the plan is to pay well to people who are prepared to come and deliver some service. The risk is that it’s a very transactional model. People will come, see patients in clinic and leave, and not really be available to provide long-term advice.”

Patient Voice Aotearoa’s Malcolm Mulholland said it was a “terrifying proposition” that a region as large as the one served by Palmerston North Hospital would have no permanent gastroenterology specialists.

“There has to be questions asked about how it was allowed to get to this point.”

Stop-gap measures in place would cost the taxpayer more.

Mulholland said Patient Voice Aotearoa was looking at holding a public meeting about the issue next month.

Employment offers made

Health NZ central region director Chris Lowry said it was looking at ways to attract specialists to smaller centres, and employment arrangements differed because they were historically negotiated at a district level.

“We acknowledge that with a shortage of gastroenterologists at Palmerston North Hospital, there will be concerns from patients with chronic conditions about continuity of care,” she said.

“We remain committed to maintaining safe, continuous care for our patients, ensuring minimal impact to service delivery.”

Among the temporary measures in place were using a doctor from another region to run clinics and sending patients to private hospitals for procedures such as colonoscopies.

In May there would be up to four assessment clinics each week using a doctor from the northern region. These would be run face-to-face and virtually.

And new senior nursing roles would increase capacity for clinics led by nurses and for procedures within their scope, Lowry said.

“A new gastroenterologist will start at the service in September. Offers have been made to three other specialists and we are exploring locum arrangements with two other overseas doctors,” she said.

“Health NZ continues to look at ways to attract specialists to smaller centres. This work is being undertaken at a national level.”

Checkpoint asked how much is being spent on temporary or locum doctors, but Health NZ did not provide figures, saying employment agreements were confidential.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Maritime NZ says there was a clear knowledge gap in how a steering console worked aboard the Aratere ferry ahead of it running aground nearly two years ago.

KiwiRail had been ordered to pay a fine of $375,000 and $25,000 costs after pleading guilty to charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 today.

The ship ran aground during a freight sailing from Picton to Wellington on 21 June 2024.

No injuries were reported among the 39 crew and eight passengers aboard.

Maritime NZ said an investigation found failures in KiwiRail’s change management processes for training and the documentation of changes to steering functions following upgrades ahead of the grounding.

Maritime NZ Director, Kirstie Hewlett, said crews must have a clear understanding of the workings of steering critical controls and how to override any automatic commands.

“In this case, there was a clear knowledge gap about how the newly installed steering console worked, including in an emergency.

“This event sends a clear message to operators to ensure Masters and crews are properly trained and provided sufficient time and opportunity to familiarise themselves when introducing safety critical equipment, so that they can correctly undertake all safety critical actions on the vessel,” Hewlett said.

In a statement KiwiRail chief operations officer, Duncan Roy said the rail provider’s guilty plea reflected the acceptance the organisation “fell short of the high standards we expect to maintain”.

He said KiwiRail recognised the seriousness of the incident and responded quickly.

“We sincerely regret this incident. It should not have happened.

“We commissioned independent reviews immediately after the incident and have since put in place a substantial remedial programme across our fleet to ensure there is no repeat. This has included strengthened management of change processes, and formalised documentation and consultation requirements,” Roy said.

He said KiwiRail also conducted it’s own investigation and had shared regular public updates on the actions taken in response to the grounding.

“Since returning to service after the incident and until its retirement, Aratere completed 1,388 Cook Strait crossings, with reliability of 96 percent excluding weather.

“Safety is our top priority. We do not sail unless it is safe to do so, and we will continue to provide a safe and reliable Cook Strait service until the arrival of two new, larger, rail enabled ferries in 2029,” Roy said.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

Work has begun to restore Mauao Mount Maunganui, but it could be up to four months until the public can access the summit.

A blessing was held today in partnership with Tauranga City Council, the Mauao Trust and Ngā Poutiriao o Mauao to enable to the re-entry onto the mountain for essential repair work.

Mayor Mahé Drysdale said the blessing represented an important moment of rest and respect as work begun on the maunga.

The mountain was central to the identity of the Tauranga moana, Drysdale said.

The amount of time it would take to restore the maunga was dependent on the weather, and regular updates would be provided, he said.

The mountain has been closed since 22 January, when a landslip killed six holidaymakers at the Mount Maunganui Beachside Holiday park during heavy rain.

Last week, hundreds of Mount Maunganui residents attended a meeting with council and local MPs over the future of Mauao, with some raising concerns about the length of time it was taking for the mountain to be re-opened.

Some business owners had previously told RNZ they were disappointed with the lack of communication from the council, and were losing over 50 percent of their normal business.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A person has been injured in a helicopter crash near Haast on the South Island’s West Coast.

Emergency services were alerted to the crash at 3.42pm on Monday.

St John says one person was flown to a medical centre in Haast.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

An order prohibiting publishing the names of a mother and her two children killed following an incident at a property in Hastings has been continued.

A homicide investigation, dubbed Operation Train, was launched after emergency services were called to a property on Avenue Rd East, Hastings about 6am on 19 April, after reports of several people being seriously injured.

Three people died – a woman and her two children, a 3-month-old girl and a 17-month-old girl.

A 36-year-old man has been charged with murdering them. He has name suppression and is due to appear in the High Court at Napier on Friday.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

Coroner Bruce Hesketh earlier granted an interim non-publication order in relation to the names, or any particulars likely to lead to the identification, of any of the four people.

That order was to lapse on Monday at 5pm.

On Monday, Coroner Ruth Thomas extended the interim non-publication order until any suppression orders are lifted in the criminal proceedings and any application for the continuation of the order filed by the family of the deceased, and any responses in opposition have been heard and ruled on in the Coroners Court.

The family earlier said in a statement they were “heartbroken and devastated by the tragic loss of our loved ones”.

“We are struggling to come to terms with the senseless violence that has taken three beautiful lives far too soon.

“They were deeply loved and will be missed beyond words.”

The family asked for privacy “as we grieve together and support one another”.

“We would also like to thank the emergency services, investigators, and the wider community for their care, compassion, and support during this unimaginable time.”

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

A minutes-old baby, who died on his mother’s chest while she was sutured up following his birth, should have been checked more regularly by the registered nurse tasked with their care, the Health and Disability Commissioner has found.

According to a decision released on Monday by deputy commissioner Rose Wall, the registered nurse in question breached protocol by failing to check the baby – known as Baby A throughout the report – herself in the hour after his birth.

The incident occurred in August 2019, when the mother – known in the report as Ms A – gave birth at 38 weeks to Baby A at 11.16am with no complications. Baby A was healthy, and placed on his mother’s chest for breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact.

But Ms A had sustained a second-degree perineal tear during labour, which required suturing. The midwife who had been assisting during labour left the room following the birth of the placenta, and Ms A’s partner also left the room to make a phone call.

Ms A said the nurse also briefly left the room to collect equipment for suturing, returned, and checked Baby A before she began perineal suturing.

Suturing began at 12.05pm, and the nurse estimated that the procedure was finished within 20 minutes.

Ms A was provided nitrous oxide gas for pain relief, and Baby A lay skin-to-skin with Ms A throughout.

The commissioner notes from the nurse’s position at the end of the bed, she was unable to see Baby A’s face while she was suturing.

She said she recalled checking with Ms A twice during the procedure about Baby A’s condition – if he was warm enough and what he was doing – to which Ms A replied that he was warm and that he was sleeping.

When suturing was completed, the nurse briefly left the room to turn on the shower for the mother, and at 12.30pm, she lifted Baby A up to complete a full postnatal check.

But upon picking him up, the nurse realised he was unresponsive and had stopped breathing.

Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful. The Coronial post-mortem report found that the probable cause of Baby A’s death was accidental asphyxiation.

A group called Action to Improve Maternity, in advice to the commissioner, said the nurse should have made her own observations of Baby A’s condition, and it was inappropriate to rely on Ms A’s opinion as she may have been experiencing side effects from the nitrous oxide gas.

Ministry of Health’s guidelines say all mothers and their babies must receive “active and ongoing assessment in the immediate postnatal period” and “the mother and baby should not be left alone – even for a short time” within the hour after birth.

The commissioner finds: “It would have been appropriate for RM B to remove Baby A from skin-to-skin contact for the duration of the procedure or to delay the suturing until another person was available to appropriately monitor him. I am therefore critical of RM B’s failure to adhere to the guidelines for supervision of mother and baby following birth.”

The nurse told the commissioner she accepted she had breached protocol, and provided a letter of apology for forwarding to Baby A’s whānau.

She had since retired from midwifery practice, and the nursing council had confirmed she did not renew her practising certificate when it expired on 21 March 2022.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

Source: Radio New Zealand

More than half a million dollars discovered in a traveller’s belongings and linked to organised crime overseas has led to the seizure of property, vehicles and tens of thousands of dollars.

Police said the latest seizures, made last week, came about after Customs staff initially uncovered A$550,095 concealed in items being brought into Aotearoa by a person returning from overseas.

As a result one person was charged with non declaration of cash and money laundering, the seized money was confiscated, and Operation Set began November last year.

Customs investigators found the initial seized cash had likely come from crime in Australia, and was among funds being invested into property in New Zealand, police said.

A raid in the Gisborne suburb of Mangapapa on Wednesday resulted in confiscation of a residential property, five vehicles, funds held in bank accounts and another $42,000 of cash, under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act.

Asset Recovery Unit team leader Julie Vernon said collaborative work between Customs, the Ministry for Primary Industries and police had prevented the proceeds of overseas crime from being used to “establish an asset base and expand their influence here in New Zealand”.

“Police will continue to target and restrain assets linked to overseas criminal offending, with the aim of stopping organised crime from gaining a foothold in our communities,” Vernon said.

New Zealand Customs Manager of Investigations Dominic Adams said the outcome demonstrated the value of the strong partnerships between the agencies.

“This is another example of joint agency work bringing offenders to account. We won’t allow New Zealand to become a destination for ill gotten gains,” Adams said.

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Source: Radio New Zealand

A Murchison man is facing charges after police seized explosives, loaded guns and drugs from a rural property.

The 60-year-old was arrested following a search by local officers and the armed offenders squad last week.

Police said they found more than 17 sticks of power gel explosives, a shotgun, a .22 rifle and a revolver, along with ammunition.

Senior Sergeant Micaela Rolton said officers had been investigating reports of illegal firearms.

“The firearms were all loaded and not secured in a safe.”

She said Defence Force bomb disposal experts safely destroyed the explosives at the property.

“This is a positive outcome for the community, with the illegal firearms and explosives now removed from circulation.”

The man was charged with firearms offences, possessing an explosive device, possession of methamphetamine for supply and cannabis possession.

He was due to appear at the Nelson District Court this week.

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