Waikato Hospital's Older Persons Rehabilitation ward ran out of towels over the Christmas period.
Waikato Hospital's Older Persons Rehabilitation ward ran out of towels over the Christmas period.
An elderly patient at Waikato Hospital’s Older Persons Rehabilitation ward was unable to shower for three days because the ward ran out of towels, her family said.
The woman’s daughter, Maureen Cruickshank, told the Waikato Herald this was the second time the issue had occurred during her mother’s hospital stay.
Health New Zealand said it was an isolated incident and resolved within 24 hours.
After the first incident in early December, Cruickshank said she received a call from her mother on Boxing Day.
“She messaged and said, ‘I can’t have a shower today, they’ve run out of towels’.
Cruickshank said she was then given the go-ahead to bring her own towels for staff to use to shower her mother.
“So it just seems like a really bizarre thing.”
Cruickshank said she had no trouble taking in some fresh towels, but her concern was for those who couldn’t access personal help.
“There’s a whole lot of other people in there that don’t have family. [And] You may not know that, apparently, you need to provide towels when you’re in a hospital nowadays.”
Towels were in short supply at Waikato Hospital. Photo / 123rf
In a statement, Health New Zealand and Te Whatu Ora acting group director of operations for Waikato, Rachel Swain, confirmed there was a “temporary towel shortage” in the Older Persons Rehabilitation (OPR) ward, but said it was an isolated incident on December 27 and resolved within 24 hours.
“[The towel shortage] occurred due to an unforeseen operational issue that resulted in available emergency linen being depleted,” Swain said.
Swain said the duty nurse manager sourced towels from other hospital areas and the issue was escalated to the hospital’s linen provider, with the shortage “resolved within 24 hours”.
“The shortage was isolated to OPR and did not impact other wards,” Swain said.
“Patient care, hygiene, and access to showers were maintained during this time. There are no current linen supply issues at Waikato Hospital.”
Tom Eley is a multimedia journalist at the Waikato Herald. He previously worked for the Weekend Sun and Sunlive.
