Last week, the Herald revealed Wolf’s disclosures had prompted the health authority to commission a review of Hawke’s Bay’s radiology service, which was completed in April and found a host of long-standing systemic deficiencies that caused staff burnout and harmed multiple patients.
At the centre of the problems was an IT system so defective that radiology reports were not delivered to doctors who requested them and clinicians were forced to adopt risky work-arounds.
Wolf wanted the public to be made aware of the safety risks, but the report was not published after it was completed and Te Whatu Ora refused to release it when it was requested by a journalist at RNZ in May.
Wolf was furious at the decision to withhold the report, and wrote to the Ombudsman’s office accusing Te Whatu Ora executives of a “conspiracy” to avoid public scrutiny and asking the Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier to investigate.
Te Whatu Ora denies it deliberately sought to avoid informing the public about safety risks and said it followed legal advice when it denied the request from the journalist.
At around that time, Wolf alerted other agencies and watchdogs he hoped would intervene – including the HDC.
After Wolf provided the commissioner with some of his internal reports and a copy of the review ordered by Te Whatu Ora, McDowell wrote to Te Whatu Ora on June 12. The Herald has obtained a copy of that letter under the Official Information Act.
“In my view, the findings of the external review require urgent, immediate and transparent action to address the risk to patients from the current radiology IT systems used by the district,” the commissioner told Te Whatu Ora.
McDowell acknowledged the unsafe practices raised by Wolf dated back to before Te Whatu Ora was created last year, but added: “I am concerned by a lack of progress over time and that some of the issues may have been exacerbated by the current structure of the system.”
McDowell asked for a reply by July 3 that included Te Whatu Ora’s assessment of the review’s findings and recommendations and actions it was taking to improve the service.
The commissioner also asked for details of whether Te Whatu Ora was investigating the extent of harm to patients caused by the unsafe practices and whether hospitals in other regions were experiencing similar issues.
Te Whatu Ora chief executive Fepulea’i Margie Apa replied to McDowell on August 4 saying the health authority was implementing the report’s 18 recommendations under the supervision of a “national steering group”.
Apa did not answer the HDC’s questions about the extent of patient harm or whether other districts were having the same problems.
In several statements to the Herald over the past week, Te Whatu Ora has said it is “confident” other radiology services have not experienced problems to the same extent as Hawke’s Bay, even though some use the same IT system.
In Hawke’s Bay, four specific cases of patient harm which were mentioned in Wolf’s disclosures have been reviewed and referred to the HDC.
An audit is still being carried out to determine how many other patients were harmed, a spokesperson said.
Te Whatu Ora reconsidered its decision to withhold the document after it was contacted by the Herald two weeks ago in response to Wolf’s criticisms about non-disclosure. It released the full report to the Herald and RNZ on Monday last week.
In a statement, the HDC said it is giving Te Whatu Ora time to implement the review’s 18 recommendations, but will “continue to follow up on these issues”.
Alex Spence is a senior investigative journalist based in Auckland. Before joining the Herald, he spent 17 years in London where he worked for the Times, Politico and BuzzFeed News.
HELP US INVESTIGATE
The Herald will continue reporting on the impact of the staffing crisis in New Zealand’s hospitals and we need your help. Do you have information on this topic? Have you or someone you know missed out on treatment because of these problems? Are you a hospital employee working under difficult conditions? Do you have documents that can help us shed light on these issues?
We want to speak to as many people as possible who have experience in the system to ensure our reporting is thorough and accurate. You can reach the Investigations Editor Alex Spence by email (alex.spence@nzme.co.nz), secure Signal messaging (0272358834), or post (The New Zealand Herald, Private Bag 92198, Victoria St West, Auckland CBD 1142). We can’t reply to all submissions because of the volume we receive. We will not publish your name or identify you as a source unless you want us to.
