A Southland health worker who punched and strangled their partner has been sentenced to supervision. The person, whose identity and occupation is suppressed, appeared before Judge John Brandts-Giesen in the Invercargill District Court on Monday. The person had earlier admitted a charge of assault and applied for a discharge without conviction, but the judge declined, instead sentencing them to 12 months’ supervision. Judge Brandts-Giesen said the person had been drinking with their partner on February 28 when the couple began arguing. “I suspect you were drunk,” the judge said. When the partner was in bed, the person stood over them and punched their partner in the face, causing a bleeding nose and lip. They then grabbed their partner by the shirt and pounamu necklace, which caused them to struggle to breathe for a short time. The partner managed to get away, and went to a neighbour’s house to phone police, the judge said.
June 20, 2017
Elderly residents of a Morrinsville retirement village have been the latest victims of a group of offenders who seem intent on leaving a trail of destruction behind them. Public outcry on social media about a recent spate of crime in Morrinsville has done little to deter the offenders who in the most recent incident, slashed the tyres of five cars and one tyre of a mobility scooter at St Matthew’s retirement village. The tyres were so badly damaged, each of the 21 will have to be replaced.
June 16, 2017
Winton-born chartered accountant Denis Woods says he was looking forward to conducting “business as usual” for the Community Trust of Southland. Woods has been appointed as an interim manager while the trust seeks to replace its long-standing chief executive John Prendergast. Prendergast, this week said, he resigned from his open-ended contract last month.
June 15, 2017
Mental health staff in the Wairarapa, Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast areas have been injured on 83 occasions by patients over the past year. A staff member was forced to take 70 days’ sick leave after being assaulted while caring for a mental health client in the lower North Island. However, authorities hope a new shift in approach by frontline staff will help drive down patient-inflicted injuries in the future.
June 14, 2017
Mental health staff in the Wairarapa, Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast areas have been injured on 83 occasions by patients over the past year. A staff member was forced to take 70 days’ sick leave after being assaulted while caring for a mental health client in the lower North Island. However, authorities hope a new shift in approach by frontline staff will help drive down patient-inflicted injuries in the future. Newly-released figures from the mental health authority servicing the Wairarapa, Hutt Valley and Capital & Coast areas, known as 3DHB, show there were 135 instances of assaults by patients over the past 12 months.
June 1, 2017
Metlifecare has named Richard Thomson, Air New Zealand’s general manager commercial, as chief financial officer starting in mid-September.
May 31, 2017
A health professional has been suspended from practising for nine months, after his conviction for stealing a dangerous drug, known as “Jackson Juice” from Wairarapa Hospital. The Wairarapa practitioner, and a colleague, pleaded guilty in Masterton District Court in 2015 to a joint charge of stealing an anaesthetic named propofol​ – sometimes known as Jackson Juice because it was one of the drugs that killed pop star Michael Jackson in 2009. The man was also censured by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, ordered to attend an ethics course, and disclose his conviction and the tribunal decision to current and any future employers for three years. The pair, who cannot be named, both worked for the Wairarapa DHB at the time and were arrested after a police operation. Police went to an address in September 2015, and found the woman inside with a tube in her arm, through which she was receiving the anaesthetic. Upon her arrest she told police the man had inserted the tube so she could administer the drug herself, which she had been doing for about a month, after suffering a shoulder injury. She told police she was taking it for anxiety problems, and to help her sleep. Masterton police said when the pair were arrested that the drug could easily have killed her. The tribunal, whose decision was published on Monday, said propofol, a sedative and short-acting anaesthetic agent that results in a decreased level of consciousness and lack of memory, is potentially dangerous, particularly in unsupervised hands. The man also admitted using the drug himself on occasions, because of the stress he was under. The total value of the theft was $4669. The man and the woman were both convicted by the court, and ordered to come up again if called upon. The tribunal said the man had not been practising for more than 18 months, and was having difficulty finding general healthcare work, such as in retirement homes, because of his convictions. He was working casually in a bread factory.
May 18, 2017
The findings of the 2016 Aged Care Workforce Survey have been released today and paint a picture of an industry plagued by stress, insecure hours, and inadequate pay.
