NZ Engine

Source: Radio New Zealand

Follow the RNZ liveblog at the top of the page for the latest updates.

Bands of heavy rain are expected to spread south across the motu on Wednesday, as orange heavy rain warnings continue for Northland, Coromandel, Rotorua and Gisborne. It comes after days of downpours flooded areas of the north, washing out roads and cutting power.

People in Auckland and Waikato are also warned to expect strong gales through the day, as well as potential heavy rain across the region and in large parts of the South Island.

Follow the RNZ liveblog at the top of the page for the latest updates.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

Whangārei Mayor Ken Couper says the storm damage he witnessed on Tuesday was as severe as any he’s seen in Northland.

A precautionary state of emergency is already declared for the Whangārei District as large areas of the country brace for more bad weather.

Northland and Coromandel Peninsula are under an orange heavy rain until Thursday, with MetService saying there’s a high chance of upgrading to red.

There are also heavy rain warnings for Bay of Plenty and Gisborne, and MetService has issued strong wind watches for Auckland and Waikato from 8am .

Couper visited the areas worst hit by Sunday’s deluge, including the seaside settlement of Ōakura, northeast of Whangārei, to see the effects for himself.

“It was as bad as you see in the north, in terms of the damage to property, the hillsides coming down behind houses, the damage to the wastewater infrastructure, things like that. It is quite localised, thank goodness, but where it’s bad, it’s bad.”

However, Couper said the people he spoke to were unbowed.

“They’re a resilient bunch. They’re used to living remotely.

“They look after themselves. They acknowledge they’ve had a hit, but they’re very pro-active about getting on with life.”

Residents in Ōakura in particular were “extremely upset” about damage to the community hall they had worked so hard to renovate little more than a year ago.

“It’s been taken out by the slip behind it, so they’re very sad about that, but people aren’t down in the dumps. They’re just frustrated with the fact that they have now a big clean-up job.”

Couper said the damage already caused and the prospect of more extreme weather in coming days had persuaded him to declare a state of emergency, which came into force at 4pm Tuesday and would last an initial seven days..

“With a further weather event coming, we felt that it was wise to declare a state of emergency, which allows certain powers to be released, if required. We didn’t want to wait until it’s proved that it is required – we wanted to get ahead of the game.”

Couper said those extra powers included the right for police to order evacuations or close roads, if they believed lives were in danger.

The council’s emergency operations centre was already up and running, and Northland Civil Defence was engaged in a full regional response.

“They are ready to respond, and are in place should this weather event come along and cause us more trouble.”

Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell visited Whangarei on Tuesday and supported the council’s decision to declare an emergency early.

“We certainly didn’t take that decision lightly and there was a full discussion with all the emergency services before the decision was made.

“Our hillsides and roading network are already saturated, we have 47 slips, there are cracks above those slips and any more rain will potentially cause more problems. Part of our community is significantly affected already and we have people in emergency shelters.”

Couper said Northlanders looked out for each other when the going was tough and he expected that would happen again, if there was more extreme weather in coming days.

“I think now is a time for us to demonstrate how resilient and how connected we can be as a community, and of course, we will. We always do up here in the north.

“It’s just a case of being prepared, as much as we can.”

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.

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

Source: Radio New Zealand

A young woman was left seriously ill after she was mistakenly given an antidepressant by a pharmacy instead of the prescribed pain relief for endometriosis.

The woman, in her mid-20s, said she fainted and remained unconscious for about 15 minutes, and suffered other severe symptoms, which left her seeking medical help.

She had earlier been diagnosed with endometriosis, which caused severe pelvic pain, and was prescribed cyproterone, branded Siterone, to ease the pain.

However, when she collected a repeat prescription as scheduled, she was mistakenly given the antidepressant sertraline, which carried the brand name Setrona.

The woman told the Health & Disability Commissioner that the antidepressant, sertraline, taken in conjunction with other prescribed medication she took for anxiety, caused “serotonin syndrome”, described as a toxic state caused mainly by excess serotonin in the central nervous system.

She fainted and had other symptoms, including nausea, diarrhoea, uncontrollable sweating, a racing heart, hypertension, and hypotension.

She sought help at a hospital after-hours clinic and required “multiple” GP visits afterwards.

The woman then notified the pharmacy of the dispensing error once she became aware of it, Deputy Health & Disability Commissioner Dr Vanessa Caldwell said in a decision released today.

Caldwell found the dispensing error was a “significant incident” because of the apparent harm caused.

Similar brand names led to error

The pharmacy stated that the error was the result of confusion caused by similarities between the brand name of the prescribed medication and the medication dispensed in error.

It has since revised its standard operating procedure for dispensing to emphasise that medications should be processed under their generic names, not brand names.

Caldwell found the pharmacist who checked the prescription in breach of a section of the health consumer’s code, and was critical of the technician who prepared it.

The pharmacy told the HDC that in June 2024, its dispensing software had identified that the woman was due for her repeat prescriptions.

After it was processed, it was dispensed by a pharmacy technician who selected the medications, applied computer-generated labels, and placed the medications in a basket for checking by a pharmacist.

The medication was then checked, bagged up and placed on a shelf for collection.

Caldwell said, based on evidence from the pharmacy, it appeared the technician misread the label and selected sertraline 50mg instead of cyproterone 50mg.

She said the error was not picked up by the pharmacist when he did a final check, likely for the same reason.

Caldwell said she notified the pharmacist of the pending HDC investigation last February, and a month later, he accepted that his conduct was in breach of the code.

He and the pharmacy had since apologised to the woman, placed additional warning signs on the medicine shelf next to the two medications in question, and further staff training on standard operating procedures and the dispensing process had been completed.

Caldwell said the HDC’s office had said in a similar case that it was a “fundamental patient safety and quality assurance step in the dispensing process” to adequately check the medication being dispensed against the prescription.

This involved checking that the correct medicine, dose, form, strength, and quantity were being dispensed, and checking for any interactions.

Caldwell said a check of therapeutic appropriateness, or that it was the correct medication for the indication, would have identified the error, the same as checking whether the medication would interact negatively with the woman’s other prescribed medication.

Responsibility lay with pharmacist

She said while the onus was on the technician to dispense the medication correctly, the ultimate responsibility for the final check lay with the pharmacist.

She said that by not carrying out the final check adequately, he failed to adhere to industry standards and the pharmacy’s own operating procedures.

Among a list of recommendations, including that the technician also apologise to the woman, Caldwell advised the pharmacy do a random audit of medication for 20 prescriptions, to assess staff compliance with the dispensing and checking procedures.

The pharmacy then had to report the outcome to the HDC and any action plan to address the findings.

* This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.

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