NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / New Zealand

Dementia patient wrongly restrained multiple times

Matthew Backhouse
By Matthew Backhouse
Assistant Chief of Staff·APNZ·
13 May, 2013 06:01 AM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

An 85-year-old patient with dementia was wrongly restrained with a lap-belt on multiple occasions at a Dunedin care home. Photo / Thinkstock

An 85-year-old patient with dementia was wrongly restrained with a lap-belt on multiple occasions at a Dunedin care home. Photo / Thinkstock

An 85-year-old dementia patient at a Dunedin care home was wrongly restrained with a lap-belt on multiple occasions, despite his wife's objections.

Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Theo Baker has found Ross Home and Hospital breached the code governing health and disability consumer rights during the man's two-month stay at the home's secure dementia unit.

Two nurses were also found to have breached the code.

The findings, released today, noted the breaches were due to systemic failure. The findings also made a raft of recommendations on how Ross Home's patient restraint policies should be implemented in future.

The man had been living at home with his wife until poor sleep and restless wandering at night prompted his admission to a public hospital in July 2010.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

A hospital assessment found the man's mobility needed to be managed due to his high risk of falling, his high level of agitation and restlessness, and his fearfulness and aggression.

The man was released to the secure dementia unit at Ross Home in September, after his wife reluctantly accepted it was no longer safe and manageable to care for him on her own at home.

Prior to his admission, his wife completed a detailed personal history which included a request that no restraints be used in attempts to return her husband to bed.

She also made it clear to one of the nurses that she did not want her husband to be restrained under any circumstances.

But on his first night at the unit, a nurse restrained him in a chair using a lap belt, after which he shredded his pyjamas and acted aggressively.

Discover more

New Zealand|crime

Rest home worker stole from elderly

19 Feb 11:18 PM
Entertainment

Jim Broadbent's connection with dementia

23 Feb 12:00 AM
New Zealand

Disgust over denture swap

14 Mar 02:21 AM
New Zealand

Caring Kiwi with Thatcher till end

12 Apr 05:30 PM

Two days later, the man's wife visited and found him restrained by a lap-belt. She asked a duty nurse about it but was assured that restraining residents was "against the law".

The patient's wife raised her concerns with staff, but the man was restrained another three times during his two-month stay.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Ms Baker found the procedures required by the national standards for restraining patients - which require all other interventions to be attempted before a patient is restrained as a "last resort" for safety reasons - were not followed.

Ross Home's own restraint policy was also not followed.

Ms Baker noted there was no discussion with the patient's family before the lap-belt was used, despite instructions to call the patient's wife at any time, and the man's agitation increased after he was restrained.

Ms Baker found Ross Home breached the code by failing to comply with the relevant standards.

It also breached the code by failing to have appropriate documentation and incident reporting systems in place, and failing to ensure adequate communication between staff.

"The fact that multiple staff used restraint but did not follow the appropriate procedure indicates systemic failure," Ms Baker said.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The dementia unit's nurse manager, who was also its restraint minimisation co-ordinator, was found to have breached the code by failing to complete and evaluate the man's support plan, or respond appropriately to his falls and aggression.

She also failed to ensure staff received appropriate training in restraint minimisation, and failed to act appropriately in response to her staff restraining the man.

Another experienced nurse, who restrained the man on at least two occasions, was also found to have breached the code.

Ms Baker recommended Ross Home apologise to the man's family and review its restraint procedures.

Her findings noted the home had put in place a number of actions to address the issues, including additional staff training in restraint minimisation.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from New Zealand

New Zealand

NZ pauses $18.2m aid to Cook Islands amid China deal tensions

20 Jun 05:27 AM
New Zealand

Australian Powerball victor's huge mistake may cost them $107 million

20 Jun 05:22 AM
New Zealand

Speed limit on part of Te Ngae Rd to rise following review

20 Jun 05:01 AM

Jono and Ben brew up a tea-fuelled adventure in Sri Lanka

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from New Zealand

NZ pauses $18.2m aid to Cook Islands amid China deal tensions

NZ pauses $18.2m aid to Cook Islands amid China deal tensions

20 Jun 05:27 AM

The pause in aid affects health, education, and tourism marketing.

Australian Powerball victor's huge mistake may cost them $107 million

Australian Powerball victor's huge mistake may cost them $107 million

20 Jun 05:22 AM
Speed limit on part of Te Ngae Rd to rise following review

Speed limit on part of Te Ngae Rd to rise following review

20 Jun 05:01 AM
Premium
In pictures: Matariki in Beijing

In pictures: Matariki in Beijing

20 Jun 03:56 AM
Help for those helping hardest-hit
sponsored

Help for those helping hardest-hit

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP