NEWS HR
January 12, 2017
An Invercargill rest home worker has admitted stealing thousands from an elderly couple under her care. The 38-year-old woman, who has interim name suppression, appeared before Judge Bernadette Farnan in the Invercargill District Court on Tuesday. Police prosecutor sergeant Penny Stratford told the court the woman was a care worker at the rest home when she found an eftpos card and pin number on a piece of paper in a drawer, which belonged to an elderly couple she cared for. The woman then made 18 transactions using the card, and a total of $7200 was withdrawn from the couple’s account, Stratford said. The offending came to light when the couple’s daughter was helping with their finances and noticed the activity in the account, the court was told. The woman is applying for a discharge without conviction. Judge Farnan noted the woman’s guilty plea, but did not enter a conviction due to the application. She remanded the woman to reappear in court on March 7, and ordered restorative justice be explored.
January 10, 2017
Close to 100 staff have been sacked from the Waikato District Health Board in the past six years, with more than 1300 disciplined. But the reasons why are unknown – and it will cost at least $38,000 to find out. An Official Information Act request revealed that 1335 DHB staff faced disciplinary action between January 2010 and August 2016. And of those that were disciplined, 97 were given the boot. The DHB’s director of people and performance, Greg Peploe, said that number is expected from an organisation with nearly 7000 staff members. “Not every one of our employees is exemplary,” Peploe said. “We have theft … it’s a large organisation.”
January 10, 2017
“Hospital specialists are saddened by the tragic death of our Whanganui Branch President Dr Chris Cresswell whilst mountain bike riding,” says Ian Powell, Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS).
December 23, 2016
A couple has been ordered to repay an Auckland rest home almost $1.46 million they gained from excess salary and unauthorised payments. Duncan and Sara Napier were the administration manager and nurse manager of Torbay Rest Home on Auckland’s North Shore which was owned by Torbay Holdings Limited and Torbay Rest Home Limited. The Napiers effectively ran the rest home business and were given control of it on the basis of trust, a Court of Appeal judgment said.
December 21, 2016
A pregnant woman who attacked a rest home worker and an animal control officer has been warned she will end up in prison if she reoffends. Kiriwaitutu​ Hawkins, 23, was sentenced on Tuesday at the Manukau District Court and placed on a two year supervision order. The Hamilton mother-of-two lashed out on two separate occasions in February this year, earning charges of threatening to kill, intentional damage of a motor vehicle and threatening behaviour. In the first incident on February 18, Hawkins was visiting her mother at a rest home and became angry when she was not allowed to leave her children in her mother’s care. Hawkins swore and threatened the rest home manager before physically attacking her. “You lunged at her, punched and abused her and spat at other staff members,” Judge Jane Lovell-Smith said. “You were screaming at the victim and police were called.”
December 12, 2016
A scuffle broke out at the Hamilton District Court after sentencing of a caregiver who assaulted an elderly man at a retirement home was put off until next year. Sonali Ananta Deo, 23, was meant to be sentenced for an assault on 86-year-old Piri Hemi but the case was adjourned for three months after her lawyer Richard Barnsdale filed late submissions seeking a discharge without conviction. The delay upset Hemi’s son Allan, and his wife Priscilla, who were in court for the appearance and hoping to have closure before Christmas. Allan Hemi tried to get a picture of Deo as she left the court with a supporter and her lawyer. As Hemi got close to Deo, Barnsdale told him to “get out”. Hemi replied “Don’t touch me, mate,” as he continued to follow the group. Security raced over to try to calm the situation down, but the argument continued on the footpath outside. A member of the public also intervened before the tensions diffused a short time later. Hamilton police had not received any complaints about an incident at the court, a spokeswoman said. After the incident, Hemi said it had been a tough time for the family to try to digest what had happened to his father and dealing with the fact Deo may get off a conviction with her discharge application. “I’m very upset because there’s no closure. I’ve been wanting to get this over and done with for months and months now. We wanted to get it finished before Christmas so we could have a big Christmas with Dad but it’s still up in the air. “She’s pleaded guilty, how could they even let it go on this long. Just give her a conviction … It’s just not fair mate, you know.” Hemi said he might have over-reacted but he couldn’t help it. “People might look at that [footage of the incident] and say ‘oh they’re getting a bit carried away’ but if it was your dad or your mum, you’d be doing exactly the same.” It had also been a tough time for the family, having had to leave their home due to unforeseen circumstances and only had seven more days to find somewhere to live. Piri Hemi had to be put in respite care due to the circumstances, he said. The assault on Hemi occurred in Hamilton’s Cascades Retirement Home between June 9 and June 11, this year. Judge Connell was unimpressed with the delay but said he had to grant police time to assess the defence application and write submissions in response. Deo was remanded on further on bail to reappear in March.
November 28, 2016
Hundreds of nursing graduates are failing to get job offers straight after graduating, according to their union. The New Zealand Nurses Organisation says there could be a “talent pool” of about 400 people waiting for jobs, with about 40 per cent of graduates failing to get straight into the industry’s main first-year recruitment programme.
November 15, 2016
A rest home carer with 25 years of experience swiped an elderly patient’s bank card from his wallet. Ziena Teirikowhai Wall was sentenced to a year’s intensive supervision when she appeared in the Hamilton District Court on Tuesday, on two charges of using a bank card to pecuniary advantage. Court documents reveal Wall, 50, had been working at the Alphacare Riverview rest home in Claudelands on April 12 this year when, in the course of doing her nightly rounds, she entered the room of an elderly patient with dementia. She saw the man’s wallet lying on a table and took from it an ANZ bankcard.
