By ELEANOR BLACK
Workers at Gisborne Hospital are uneasy after a staff member's home was searched following the publication of a newsletter mocking senior managers.
The staff member is alleged to have used prepaid envelopes owned by Tairawhiti Healthcare to deliver the six-page newsletter to workers throughout Gisborne Hospital.
His house was searched by police looking for stolen property last week but Tairawhiti's acting CEO Mike Grant says the search was not connected to the newsletter.
"Irregularities were identified as a result of a security review regarding hospital property. Charges may be pending so it would be inappropriate to comment any further."
However, a source close to the hospital said the newsletter's nasty tone shook management, who sought other unflattering material at the house.
The man was not home during the search but computer disks were seized. Two editions of the satirical newsletter have appeared in the past three months.
The source said staff morale at Gisborne Hospital had hit a new low. Work to rebuild the community's confidence in the hospital since commissioner Wayne Brown was appointed after Health Minister Annette King sacked the board in July had been effectively undone, said the source. "People are feeling very angry and vulnerable."
The newsletter, obtained by the Herald, is scathing of senior management, which it says "ran for cover and blamed someone else" when a series of health scandals erupted this year.
In June, it transpired that a locum anaesthetist who worked at the hospital had been re-using syringes.
A month later, biochemist John Rutledge said he was suspended from work at the hospital laboratory after a confidential conversation with a National candidate about cost-cutting was shared with management.
An independent report on the hospital by Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson is expected by the end of the month.
Hospital denies nasty letter sparked staff home search
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