Southland Hospital was ill-equipped to handle the arrival of two Covid-19 positive sailors after previous cost-cutting that went against infection prevention advice.
File photo. Photo: Google Maps
The two crew members needed hospital care after testing positive while onboard the MS Mattina at Southport in July.
While Southern DHB chief executive Chris Fleming said the team managed the situation well, it also clearly showed some significant issues for the hospital.
In a report to front the DHB meeting on Tuesday, Fleming said isolation rooms in both the emergency department and medical ward did not have the necessary anterooms to protect staff and patients.
"The medical ward has four isolation rooms, but like the ED none of them have anterooms. This means that plastic sheeting was required to be installed to create what at best was a makeshift anteroom," Fleming said.
"The action resulted in us needing to take out more ward capacity than required to be able to ensure safety of staff and patients."
Fleming acknowledged that the isolation facilities were not up to scratch and had clear deficiencies.
"While the Southland Hospital redevelopment is now 13 years old and standards may have changed, it is incredible that any planning process endorsed the development of isolation facilities which simply did not meet the infection prevention and control standards of the day," he said.
"Through investigating, I know that the anterooms were in the original plans but they were taken out as a cost-saving against infection prevention and control advice."
Work was underway to improve the set up including the proposed redevelopment of the emergency department which would also be discussed in Tuesday's board meeting, he said.
The facilities team was creating plans with consultancy to modify the medical ward and bring it up to the required standard, Fleming said.
"This was the first time in New Zealand there had been a need to have Covid-19 cases kept on board a maritime vessel and was complex to manage.
"Debriefs needed to be held to ensure we capture the learnings for the Public Health service locally and nationally, but also for the organisation."
