Paula Bennett during a media conference, over Speaker Trevor Mallard's comments over the possibility of a rapist working at Parliament, in 2019. Photo / File
Under-staffing is harmful to patients and workers
I was upset to read how baby Lucas was further harmed while receiving hospital treatment.
As a nurse myself, I can assure you that the goal of all healthcare workers is to heal or help, not to harm! This case illustrates exactly what we have been trying to highlight: unsafe staffing is dangerous.
Unsafe staffing is harmful to both patients and staff.
Right across the healthcare sector there just isn't enough nurses, doctors, HCAs and other allied staff to deliver consistent timely care. Like baby Lucas, often patients simply are not able to be diagnosed and treated as quickly as we'd like, falling through the gapping cracks of our under resourced health system.
Such a HAI (hospital acquired injury) will be investigated, qualify for funding as an accident. I hope they don't just blame the individual doctors or nurses, but focus on why couldn't they deliver the care they should have?
What sort of patient load did the staff have? Was the ward short-staffed? If you have double the workload, you have half the time available with each patient. There are even less staff on night shifts. Under-staffing has become the dangerous norm.
Were staff that shift necessarily preoccupied treating sicker patients, whose care would take priority?
Were the staff familiar with caring for babies? As management scramble to fill roster gaps, staff get redeployed into areas with the most urgent need, often outside their scope of practice. Would they know babies often have IV lines inserted into feet and need to be unwrapped and checked regularly regardless if asleep or not? Was the nurse new and inexperienced? Had there been adequate teaching and supervision possible to ensure safe care?
It is a huge responsibility caring for and treating patients; and it hurts when we feel we cannot provide that care as well as we should. Going to work with a feeling of dread; one foot forward and two back. Every day my healthcare colleagues are also being harmed. I call this PEMWAI — physical emotional moral workplace acquired injury. Those involved with Lucas will surely have been adversely affected. Although we know the need is enormous and growing, we simply reach a point where we "just can't do it any more" and leave.
As NZNO rightly claims, the healthcare staffing crisis is in fact a health and safety crisis for us all.
Please support nurses and doctors to keep being there for you.
PM Kirk, Rotorua
Bring back compulsory military training
The Letter of the Week published in last weekend's Herald on Sunday took the words right out of my mouth. How many more innocent victims of crime must endure further suffering by seeing lighter sentences given by the judiciary for gangster offenders who have had "dysfunctional and appalling childhoods"?
It is time the parents who destroyed their childrens' lives, neglected and abused them, are punished historically. This is an inter-generational pattern, and those of us who abide by the law want to see tougher sentences, not weaker. Crime is completely out of control in NZ. A visit to the local mall may result in having a hammer thrown at you by roving bands of out-of-control juvenile delinquents who know they are immune from prosecution and wish to find fame on TikTok.
Something has to be done, and fast. If necessary, bring back compulsory military training so discipline and a respect for other people's property is instilled in these recalcitrant and aimless youths.
The ancient proverb "idle hands are the devil's workshop" couldn't be more apt in today's world.
Susan White, West Harbour
Time-wasting
The penalty against the Wallabies for time-wasting was the correct decision.
In Australian rules football, if a penalty is awarded against you and you do not immediately throw the ball to the player, you are marched 50m up the field as punishment. We need the same strict rule in rugby. Fix it now.
Murray Hunter, Titirangi
Baby Lucas
This sad and disturbing story of a severe injury occurring to a child in hospital demands comment and explanation from educated medical professionals. In my opinion, this case is one of clearcut substandard care.
Instead, as reported by Emma Russell, an obfuscating line of gobbledegook, platitudes and indecipherable Māori-speak issues forth from the hospital and its staff. And with the added insult of missing medical records, the entirety is the picture of what might be termed a perfect medical negligence trifecta.
Based upon the history of many negligence cases reported by the Herald in the past, the child and family can expect minimal, if any, compensation. And to boot, it's also likely no one will be held accountable. "We've learnt from this" is the message that will be promulgated. Except it's highly unlikely that much learning will have gone on!
It's disheartening to say the least.
Quentin J Durward, S Dakota, US
Pull Paula's head out
Will someone please help Paula Bennett get her head out of her butt ("It's time Govt listened to people", September 25).
She bangs on about broken promises while failing to see what has been going on since they made those election vows. We've got a Covid-19 pandemic still raging, new variants popping up at an alarming rate and a worrisome war in Ukraine thanks to a madman now making nuclear threats. Not to mention climate change catastrophes happening here and around the world, from major flooding to extreme droughts to killer hurricanes.
These things have come about after the last election and believe it or not, we're actually doing a lot better compared to others around the world.
Of course, our terrible poverty traps need to be destroyed; this involves huge investment which this Government has done. We've been in a downward spiral since Muldoon, everyone with half a brain knows that. There are many issues to be addressed, our tamariki are the most important.
Angry people need to calm down and accept the relevant facts. Helping one another is the way to go, we need to be united now more than ever.
Kaylene McPike, Massey
Heather gets it right
Heather du Plessis-Allan is right to criticise the light rail project as too expensive: " ... and one of the dumbest projects ever dreamt up for Auckland". They should go back and consider the original idea of reopening the old tram routes. However, at this stage they should be extending the Onehunga railway line to Wiri via the Māngere airport and employment hub. This would connect the workers from the south with the airport precinct as that is where 60 per cent of the workers come from, and allow those living in Māngere to get to work in Te Papapa, Penrose, Ellerslie, Newmarket and the CBD and to get there cheaply, without causing congestion or creating any carbon.
However, du Plessis-Allan asks why cars shouldn't be added to a second harbour crossing project. Because of climate change, congestion and the fact that there is already an eight-lane road bridge over the harbour.
The next harbour crossing should have a lane for a double-track railway, a lane for cyclists and pedestrians and three lanes for trucks and buses to save the current bridge from further damage and the trucks could be tolled.
Niall Robertson, Balmoral
Speaker should speak up
Adrian Rurawhe, the new Speaker of the House, dropped the ball when Kelvin Davis made his racist and separatist speech. He should have ejected Davis from the House.
It will be very disappointing if this kind of behaviour from the Speaker becomes the norm and continues. That is exactly what his job is, to discipline unacceptable behaviour.
Dave Miller, Matua
Cheers to Chhour
What a great explanation MP Karen Chhour gave in response to the racist Kelvin Davis outburst. The example she gave in the Herald article illustrates the divisive path that this Government is taking us. What is best for the child should be absolutely paramount. Section 7AA should be repealed.
Doug Armstrong, Glendowie
Bullying rampant
It is no surprise that our schools are rife with bullying when the deputy leader of the Labour Party goes unpunished for his flagrant bullying of Karen Chhour this week. The Speaker of the House and the Prime Minister at the time of the bullying were missing in action. Perhaps both took a page out of Trevor Mallard's play book? This is yet another symptom of the level of lawlessness currently being experienced in New Zealand as witnessed by the spike in ram raids, smash and grabs at jewellery stores and record levels in armed police callouts (Weekend Herald October 1). The common thread running through these felonies (from bullying to rape) is that almost no one is punished to the full extent of the law. The police do an excellent job of apprehending the offenders, but the judges send down the more serious offenders for a couple of weeks of home detention. There are many ramifications of this crime wave. One that springs readily to mind is that overseas tourists and international students will think twice before coming to New Zealand.
Chris Parker, Campbells Bay
Rain started falling at the top of the country before dawn.