Health New Zealand (HNZ) has said the man who died was triaged and \u201cthorough\u201d reviews will look into \u201call aspects\u201d of the incident.<\/p>\n
Stevens, who lives in Auckland, was visiting Hamilton when his heart started racing, and a GP urgently referred him to the ED.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got there at 8pm, and I would have waited till 6 or 7am. That\u2019s 10.5 hours,\u201d he told the Herald.<\/p>\n
He estimated about 40 to 50 people were waiting and \u201cinnocent young\u201d people watched on as staff tried to revive the man.<\/p>\n
Earl Stevens was at Waikato Hospital\u2019s emergency department the night a man died.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s very hard on the staff. There was one nurse I talked to there [after the man collapsed] and she was trying to get people to write complaints because it was, from their [staff] point of view, untenable.\u201d<\/p>\n
He likened the situation to \u201cThird World\u201d healthcare and called on Health Minister Simeon Brown to visit the ED and \u201ceyeball\u201d the issues, including how staffing was being matched to patient demand.<\/p>\n
A spokeswoman for Brown told the Herald the minister \u201cregularly\u201d visits EDs across the country and would go to Waikato\u2019s next time he\u2019s in Hamilton. <\/p>\n
HNZ has said the man who died was triaged \u2013 that means the seriousness of his illness or condition was rated on a scale of one to five. However, it does not mean he received a detailed assessment or treatment from a doctor.<\/p>\n
An HNZ spokeswoman told the Herald a clinical review of the incident will be completed this week, and a \u201cserious adverse event review\u201d will take two months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese will be thorough, looking at all aspects of the incident, so we can provide answers for the family as they rightly deserve and ensure that all the facts are known.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stevens cited his own case as an example of what he believes is a \u201ccrisis\u201d. He was classified as category two, which according to the triage scale used by the country\u2019s EDs indicates an \u201cimminently life-threatening condition, a risk of organ failure, or very severe pain\u201d.<\/p>\n
Stevens said his GP was concerned his racing heart could lead to a heart attack and was \u201cextremely\u201d surprised to learn on being referred to the ED that the wait would be more than 10 hours.<\/p>\n
He said that according to staff he spoke with on the night, they were under immense pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said they had doctors away that were sick and they hadn\u2019t filled them with anyone else, and so they were operating under extreme conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Waikato emergency department data<\/p>\n
Waikato Hospital’s ED has recently been operating \u201cat or above capacity\u201d. Photo \/ Mike Scott<\/p>\n
It comes after data provided exclusively to the Herald shows Waikato\u2019s ED\u2019s staffing levels, which the NZNO believe highlight that staff are regularly under pressure and numbers are stretched thin.<\/p>\n
The data, which the NZNO said is pulled from HNZ\u2019s own care capacity and demand system, includes \u201cshift below target\u201d (SBT) figures.<\/p>\n
It features figures from January to April this year at Waikato ED, and an NZNO spokeswoman said it shows nearly two-thirds of all shifts for the first four months of the year were understaffed.<\/p>\n
The data, supplied under the Official Information Act (OIA), shows the worst evening was April 13 this year when the ED was 138 nursing hours or 17 nurses short of safe staffing levels, NZNO said.<\/p>\n
Waikato chief nurse officer Cheryl Atherfold said the SBT data was a \u201csnapshot measure\u201d that helps identify where resources are needed.<\/p>\n
She said using this material in isolation to claim wards are understaffed was \u201cunsafe and misleading\u201d.<\/p>\n
Atherfold said to manage increases in demand, experienced nurses can be deployed at short notice.<\/p>\n
The OIA material also includes bed utilisation data for Waikato ED, which the NZNO said shows occupancy levels were above 100% for every shift in the first four months of this year.<\/p>\n
Atherfold said bed utilisation data is not an accurate reflection of capacity or demand.<\/p>\n
However, HNZ\u2019s chief executive director for Midland, Cath Cronin, has publicly stated that Waikato\u2019s ED has recently been operating \u201cat or above capacity\u201d.<\/p>\n
Nurses Organisation chief executive Paul Goulter. Photo \/ Ben Fraser, File<\/p>\n
Despite conflicting interpretations of the data, NZNO executive director Paul Goulter was unequivocal in his assessment, saying the union had spent 20 months raising concerns about unsafe staffing and patient safety.<\/p>\n
He wanted an independent inquiry<\/a> into what happened at the Waikato ED and accused HNZ of \u201cobfuscation\u201d.<\/p>\n