NEWS HR
July 25, 2017
The Southern District Health Board has been ordered to pay $6000 compensation to a Queenstown nurse for the way it investigated her complaint about a colleague. The New Zealand Employment Relations Authority decision, released last week, found Kate Crush suffered an ‘‘unjustified disadvantage’’ during her employment at a specialist unit in the resort as a result of the investigation. The investigation, carried out by two Southern DHB investigators between August 2014 and July 2015, looked into the conduct of a “clinical professional”, known as Mr X, with whom she had “ongoing work relationship problems” since 2005. In his decision, authority member David Appleton said the catalyst for Ms Crush’s complaint, made in August 2014, was Mr X’s approach the previous month to a mutual colleague of the pair, asking for help in making a complaint against Ms Crush. That colleague alleged Mr X said “if other staff backed him up there was a better chance of getting [Ms Crush] dismissed”. He lodged a formal complaint about Ms Crush that month. In her letter of complaint, Ms Crush claimed Mr X’s behaviour towards her amounted to harassment. She said that he generally ignored her unless she spoke to him first. In their preliminary finding, the investigators concluded there was “insufficient evidence that Mr X was responsible, or that the activity amounted to harassment, and so they did not consider it could be elevated to a disciplinary level”. In a letter informing her of the decision, Ms Crush was told “we are unable as an employer to proceed to discipline people if the allegations are based on perception rather than reality in the form of tangible evidence”. Mr Appleton found Ms Crush had been unjustifiably disadvantaged by the way the investigation was carried out, and that it had several flaws: These were the failure to interview Mr X before rejecting Ms Crush’s claims, a failure to link Mr X’s complaint about Ms Crush to her allegations of harassment, and a failure to interview another mutual colleague of the pair. “… these flaws did lead to disadvantage to Ms Crush, as she was reasonably expecting her complaints to be investigated thoroughly, and her concerns acknowledged at the preliminary stage”, he said. “I cannot safely conclude that had the flaws not occurred, a different outcome would not have occurred as far as the preliminary report is concerned.” He ordered the Southern DHB pay Ms Crush $6000 compensation for humiliation, loss of dignity, and injury to her feelings. The authority did not have the jurisdiction to investigate the second and third stages of the DHB’s investigation into Ms Crush’s complaint “as no sufficiently specific personal grievance was raised in respect of them”. A decision on costs was reserved.
July 18, 2017
The Southern District Health Board is not concerned by an apparent 80% rise in physical assaults on staff at Wakari Hospital. There were 82 assaults in the first five months of this year, compared with 109 for all of 2016. It suggests an 80% increase, or 75% more on a four-year combined average. SDHB chief operating officer Lexie O’Shea, in a statement, said the numbers did not indicate a concerning trend.
July 18, 2017
An employee of a care home allegedly photographed residents without their consent and shared the image with her fellow co-workers on social media, police said. The alleged incidents came to light when a staff member came forward about the conduct of five fellow colleagues.
July 10, 2017
Longstanding women’s health activist Lynda Williams has died, ending a battle with cancer that lasted nearly two years.
July 7, 2017
Metlifecare Pakuranga Retirement Village manager Jane Ralston is to leave after 24 years.
July 4, 2017
Timaru Hospital is in lockdown after concerns about patient safety. A South Canterbury District Health Board (SCDHB) spokeswoman said advice from police regarding patient safety was behind the decision to place the hospital into lockdown. It is unclear exactly what sparked the lockdown. The spokeswoman said lockdown meant all external doors to the hospital were locked.
June 29, 2017
An Auckland woman has been sentenced to 10 months home detention after admitting stealing $120,000 from her father who had dementia. Carolyn Diane Alleyne, 65, pleaded guilty in April to five representative charges of theft by a person in a special relationship. She was sentenced at the Manukau District Court on Tuesday. Alleyne fleeced money from her father Ron Greenhalgh, 95, a World War II veteran who died on Father’s Day 2016. She had paid the court $120,000 in reparation which would be given to her brother, Michael Greenhalgh. Judge Mina Wharepouri said Alleyne systematically stole money from her ill father to fuel her lifestyle. “That included a gambling habit which was satisfied through your use of the TAB,” he said. “Your offending only came to light when your actions resulted in there being insufficient money in his account.” The insufficient funds meant her father could not pay for ongoing costs at Metlifecare where he was cared for, the judge said. Alleyne then removed her father from care and he stayed at her Pakuranga home. He was later admitted to hospital with deteriorating health where he eventually died. “You had a duty of care. Instead of applying his funds for his benefit as you should have done, much of his money was in fact misapplied by you,” Judge Wharepouri said. Michael Greenhalgh described his sister as “cold, callous, heartless and cruel”.
June 26, 2017
A single mum has been spared jail despite admitting distributing an indecent video of a two-year-old girl and a man she was ‘disgusted’ by. Care worker Gloria Owusu was sent the video clip in May last year and sent it on to relatives and friends over the next eight months. Owusu also shared a picture of an eight-year-old girl standing naked in a field – but claimed she not did think this was indecent as ‘children often walk around naked’ in the village she was from in Ghana. The 45-year-old, who works part-time in a residential care home for the elderly, was arrested when she showed her colleague the video and it was seen by a visitor. She pleaded guilty to two offences of possessing and distributing indecent images but was spared jail after Judge Zoe Smith gave her a 10 month suspended sentence.
