NEWS HR
March 25, 2019
Attackers hid behind a wall before assaulting two medics at Middlemore Hospital, breaking one of the staff members’ collar bone. The registered nurse and healthcare assistant, who work in the intensive care unit, were leaving work after nightshift at 7am on Saturday. Counties Manukau Health chief executive Margie Apa said the unprovoked attack happened near the entrance to the hospital’s western car park. It is not clear what the motive of the attack was, but its understood the attackers were laying in wait. The attack comes after protests last year over safety at the staff car park at the hospital, which has been described as dangerous by the New Zealand Nurses Organisation (NZNO).
March 22, 2019
A Roman Catholic priest has been arrested on a misdemeanour assault charge after he was accused of groping a woman in home hospice care while giving her last rites.
March 22, 2019
A Dunedin doctor accused of killing a teenage girl has applied for bail for the fourth time. Venod Skantha (31) has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 16-year-old Amber-Rose Rush, who was found dead in her Corstorphine home on February 2 last year. Skantha has been denied bail and electronically monitored bail by the High Court and the Court of Appeal three times in the past. A fresh application for bail can be made if there is a material change in circumstances. Justice Gerald Nation heard the bail bid in the High Court at Dunedin yesterday and reserved his judgement.
March 14, 2019
Professor Stephen Hawking’s nurse has been struck off for failures over his care and financial misconduct. Patricia Dowdy, 61, who worked for the renowned scientist for 15 years, was handed an interim suspension in 2016, it emerged at the weekend. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has now found she did not “provide the standards of good, professional care we expect and Professor Hawking deserved”. Mrs Dowdy said she was upset and did not want to comment. The NMC made its decision to remove Mrs Dowdy, from Ipswich, from the nursing register at a private hearing in London. A fitness to practise panel said Mrs Dowdy’s behaviour amounted to financial misconduct, dishonesty, not providing appropriate care, failing to cooperate with the NMC and not having the correct qualifications. Matthew McClelland, director of fitness to practise, said: “As the public rightly expects, in serious cases such as this – where a nurse has failed in their duty of care and has not been able to give evidence to the panel that they have learned from their mistakes and be fit to practise – we will take action. “We have remained in close contact with the Hawking family throughout this case and I am grateful to them – as they approach the anniversary of Professor Hawking’s death – and others for sharing their concerns with us. A family spokesman said Prof Hawking’s family was “relieved this traumatic ordeal has now concluded and that as a result of the verdict, others will not have to go through what they suffered from this individual”. “They want to thank the NMC for their thorough investigation,” he added. Prof Hawking died at his home in Cambridge in March last year aged 76 having lived with motor neurone disease for more than 50 years.
March 14, 2019
A Waikato pharmacist has been found guilty of professional misconduct at a Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal hearing in Hamilton today. The man faced a charge relating to leaving methadone unlocked and available on a counter, failing to complete incident reports for two errors, leaving the pharmacy unattended at various times and asking colleagues to lie about his whereabouts, failing to notice an incorrect label on a medication bottle, dispensing incorrect medication for a prescription, and taking money from the pharmacy’s till or cash pot without authorisation of the employer. The charge was laid by the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) of the Pharmacy Council. To find professional misconduct the tribunal had to consider whether the pharmacist’s acts or omissions amounted to malpractice or negligence, and had brought or was likely to bring discredit to the profession. They then had to decide whether the act should warrant a disciplinary sanction. Tribunal chair David Carden announced the decision on Wednesday. Several, but not all, of the incidents amounted to professional misconduct, Carden said. For instance, the fact the pharmacist failed to lock up methadone in a secure cupboard as legally required was negligent but did not warrant a disciplinary sanction on its own. Similarly, the allegations he had taken money from the till or cash pot at various times was a matter between the pharmacist and his employer, rather than for the tribunal to consider. However, the fact the pharmacist left the premises at various times for 10 minutes or longer, and asked colleagues to ‘cover’ for him to his employers, was contrary to the Pharmacy’s Council’s code of ethics, Carden said. Another incident, where the pharmacist dispensed the wrong medication, also amounted to malpractice and negligence. Both sides made closing remarks before the tribunal on Wednesday. Counsel for the PCC, Anita Miller, said the pharmacist’s conduct “fell seriously short of acceptable”, breached the code of conduct for pharmacists, and amounted to professional misconduct. His actions justified a penalty to protect the public and maintain professional standards, she said. Miller said the pharmacist’s frequent absences for periods of 10 minutes or longer were contrary to his professional obligations, and the code of ethics for pharmacists, which states a charge pharmacist has to be present to dispense prescriptions. The witnesses clearly differentiated the pharmacist’s longer absences from any other staff member, she said. The fact the pharmacist had asked other colleagues to tell their employers he was at the medical centre when he was not, was a breach of trust, she said. He used the seniority of his position with other colleagues, she said. Counsel for the pharmacist, Harry Waalkens QC, said a finding of professional misconduct should only be reserved for the most serious misconduct. The conduct in question was “right at the bottom of the pile” for a disciplinary charge. “There are things that shouldn’t have happened, but they are minor,” he said. Allegations the pharmacist had taken money from the till and cash pot were suspicions, rather than clearly backed up by evidence. Waalkens made the clear distinction between borrowing the money in the form of IOUs and stealing. The pharmacist was never reprimanded for using IOUs, he said. “What’s very clear is that the pharmacy did condone it.” A charge pharmacist’s absences from the premises was not unusual but common practice, referring to another witness who said he occasionally left the pharmacy to buy lunch as well. Asking colleagues to cover for him was “human conduct”, he said. “Everybody at some stage in their life will act in a way where they might tell a white lie,” he said. The Tribunal will decide on a penalty later today.
March 13, 2019
A staff member at a Wellington retirement village is seriously injured after a car crashed through the building she was in, trapping her under debris. The woman has fractures to both her ankles as well as contusions on her face and leg after the car ploughed through the side of the building, crossing a hallway and ending in the laundry. The crash happened shortly before 1.30pm at Village at the Park in Berhampore. The driver, a member of the public who was visiting her husband at the retirement village, is believed to have suffered a medical event, during which she hit the accelerator instead of the brake. “The vehicle has actually gone through the outer wall and into our laundry,” communications manager Tristan Saunders said. The staff member was in the laundry at the time and was pinned under debris from the building. “It‘s a very unfortunate accident that‘s occurred,” Saunders said. The driver, who has no memory of the crash, was being treated for shock, and the staff member has been taken to hospital. The Serious Crash Unit will investigate the incident.
March 12, 2019
A nurse who worked for Stephen Hawking for 15 years has been suspended in a secret tribunal over allegations of ‘serious’ misconduct concerning his care. The scientist’s immediate family had lodged a complaint which prompted a long investigation into 61-year-old Patricia Dowdy. But details of the case, and the nature of the disciplinary charges against Mrs Dowdy, have been suppressed by the body which regulates nursing. The public and the media have been banned from the hearing in a move that will prompt renewed concerns about a shift towards ‘secret justice’. Because of the severity of the allegations against her, which have never been made public, Mrs Dowdy was suspended by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) when the claims came to light. The ‘substantive’ hearing that will ultimately decide her fate is now ongoing – but is being held behind closed doors. And it is likely that the charges will never be publicly disclosed. It is understood that the nurse, from Ipswich, Suffolk, stopped working for Hawking at least two years before he succumbed to motor neurone disease in March last year, aged 76. When a reporter turned up at the NMC in Stratford, East London, he was denied entry and told that Mrs Dowdy’s ‘fitness-to-practise’ hearing, due to end later this month, was private. Later, the NMC said a secrecy order was granted because of Mrs Dowdy’s ‘health’, but declined to elaborate further. Asked about the allegations at her home yesterday, Mrs Dowdy said: ‘This is all very upsetting. Can I just say “no comment” at the moment? I’m not supposed to talk to anyone.’ A source with knowledge of the case said the charges against the nurse were ‘pretty serious’ but declined to discuss the matter further. In 2004, ten nurses who had cared for Hawking accused his second wife, Elaine Mason, of abusing him. It is not known if Mrs Dowdy was among those who made statements to police or if that case is connected to the ongoing hearing. At the time it emerged that the author of A Brief History Of Time was repeatedly taken to hospital with unexplained injuries, such as a broken wrist, gashes to the face and a cut lip, that left his family concerned for his safety. Both he and Mrs Mason denied the allegations and police took no action. Last night, MPs and campaigners reacted with dismay to the decision to hold disciplinary hearings in secret. Independent MP John Woodcock, who helped his constituents fight for NMC hearings into midwives implicated in the needless deaths of babies at Furness General Hospital in Cumbria, warned the secrecy could increase the risk of a further tragedy. He said: ‘It is deeply concerning that the NMC is seeking to reduce transparency.’ And open justice campaigner John Hemming added: ‘Justice in the dark is never proper justice. If you want people to have confidence in the regulator, then justice needs to be done – and seen to be done.’ Prof Hawking had been confined to a wheelchair since the age of 30 and was attended to by a rota of private nurses and carers paid for by Cambridge University, where he was a mathematics professor.
March 7, 2019
A pensioner has been charged with stalking a retirement housing association employee over the course of a three year period. Robert Entwistle is alleged to have engaged in a course of conduct likely to cause the woman fear and alarm by sending her numerous unwanted communications via letters and online at Greenlaw and in Duns between January 1, 2016, and January 1, 2019. The 69-year-old of Priorwood Court, Melrose, pleaded not guilty at Jedburgh Sheriff Court to the stalking charge. A trial has been fixed for May 16 with an intermediate hearing on April 29.
