Gisborne Hospital is investigating an allegation that a staff member swore at a woman and stopped helping her while the woman's relative was having a stroke. Photo / Ben Cowper
Gisborne Hospital is investigating an allegation that a staff member swore at a woman and stopped helping her while the woman's relative was having a stroke. Photo / Ben Cowper
A woman who claims a Gisborne Hospital staff member swore at her and refused to get help while her relative suffered a stroke outside the emergency department says she is disappointed with the hospital’s response to her complaint.
The hospital has apologised for inadequacies in its communication with the womanafter her complaint and says its review into the incident is ongoing.
Hariata Sadlier’s relative, who did not want to be named for privacy reasons, had been out of Waikato Hospital for about a week since emerging from a medically induced coma after open heart surgery and was recovering at Sadlier’s house in Gisborne.
Sadlier said that one night last month he started experiencing minor chest pains and she decided to take him to the hospital due to his medical history.
“I parked right outside in the emergency parking. It was raining, so I got out and I ran into ask for help and ... you know, they ask questions, and I told them his history and they were like ‘oh yeah, hang on’,” Sadlier said.
“I just spun around, I grabbed a wheelchair and I ran out. By the time I got out, he must have tried to get out of the truck to come in, but he had a stroke so he was flat on the road.”
She was followed out less than a minute later by a staff member, who had heard Sadlier “screaming her head off”.
Sadlier claims the staff member came out and yelled at her to stop shouting. Sadlier says she explained she needed help because her relative was on the road.
The staff member tried to help Sadlier lift her collapsed relative into the wheelchair, but Sadlier told them to get someone else to help because he was too heavy for both of them.
Sadlier claims the staff member then “started going crazy at me because I was screaming my head off.”
‘’Not at them, I was just panicking.”
Sadlier admits she said to the staff member to “’Go get f***ing help’ and claims the staff member then allegedly dropped her relative on the road, swore at her told her in strong terms not to yell at them and then went back inside.
Sadlier could see through the ED doors and claims the staff member did not appear to be getting help. She managed to get her relative inside after a nearby member of the public helped her.
Hariata Sadlier outside the ED where she claims a hospital staff member swore at her and left her with her relative who was suffering a stroke.
“I was out there for at least two minutes while he couldn’t walk. He was having a stroke, he was in a puddle, it was raining and I was just stuck there. I didn’t know what to do.’’
She claims the staff member just sat there and ignored them.
“I was telling them ‘he’s having a stroke, you need to get him in there’ and they told me they’d call security if I kept being aggressive.”
Sadlier said she had no issues with the other hospital staff who cared for her relative after that. Her relative was flown back to Waikato Hospital hours after the incident and he stayed there for another few weeks before returning to his Gisborne home.
“I think it was a major thing, once he did get checked because they soon realised ‘he just had open heart surgery, we better send him off’.”
She communicated via email with John Swiatczak, Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora Tairawhiti group director of operations, and Amelia Brown-Smith, manager of risk and governance, for the first week.
“I requested the CCTV footage and they said the cameras don’t work so they couldn’t.”
She stopped hearing back and did not receive another reply until four weeks later.
“Nothing came of it ... I thought I’d make it public and see. Something needs to happen.”
She had been back to the hospital every week since and had seen the staff member.
She said she did not expect them to be fired but expected them to be stood down until the investigation had been completed.
“I don’t think you should be working there if that is how you are talking to people when you are under pressure.”
Swiatczak said in a statement he had personally apologised to Sadlier.
“We expect our hospitals to be safe and supportive environments for patients and their whānau, and our staff are key to ensuring we can provide this,” Swiatczak said.
“Our review into this incident is ongoing. However, we take allegations of this nature extremely seriously.”
He met Sadlier on Thursday to update her on the review process and discuss any concerns she might have regarding the incident and process.
“We acknowledge that our communication to Ms Sadlier should have been better, and I am sorry.
“Regrettably, the CCTV was not working at the time of this incident.”
Sadlier said she hoped going public would lead to a change in how hospital staff dealt with people and also encourage others to report negative experiences at the hospital.
“People don’t put complaints in writing. Don’t just moan about it on Facebook. Put it in writing and don’t be scared to speak up.”
James Pocock joined the Gisborne Herald as chief reporter in 2024 after covering environmental, local government and post-cyclone issues in Hawke’s Bay. He has a keen interest in finding the bigger picture in research and making it more accessible to audiences. He lives near Gisborne. james.pocock@nzme.co.nz.
