Photo: befunky.com
A nurse sexually assaulted a hospital patient, an investigation by the Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner has found.
Vanessa Caldwell on Monday released the findings of her investigation into the incident, and referred the nurse to the Director of Proceedings.
She also found Health New Zealand/Te Whau Ora inadequately handled the patient's complaint.
Dr Cardwell said the patient, who had been admitted to hospital with an injury, was sexually assaulted by a nurse while they were sleeping on the second night of their stay.
The patient confronted the nurse in the presence of other staff, and a made a formal report to police and the hospital the following day.
Cardwell found the nurse breached the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights.
She was also critical that Health New Zealand did not acknowledge the patient's complaint, keep them updated on the progress of its own investigation, nor offer an apology until the patient made a further complaint two years later.
She said those actions compounded the harm experienced by the patient, and was also a breach of the Code.
The Deputy Commissioner has recommended the case be used as a basis for developing education and training for hospital staff on appropriate management of reports of criminal acts, reportable events and complaints management.
Cardwell has also recommended the incident be reported to the Health Quality and Safety Commission.
Health New Zealand chief clinical officer Dr Richard Sullivan apologised to the patient and their whānau for the breach of trust and emotional distress they had experienced.
The nurse involved was no longer employed by Health New Zealand.
"We take patient safety and wellbeing extremely seriously. Everyone who uses our services and hospitals has the right to feel safe and supported, and no harm or distress to a patient under our care is acceptable.
"We accept the Health and Disability Commissioner's findings and comments, and acknowledge that we could have done better for this patient and whānau."
Dr Sullivan said all complaints were taken seriously and this case had been reported to the police.
"Following this event, we also undertook an internal review to examine our processes and understand what we could have done better.
"The learnings from our review are consistent with the findings that have come out of the HDC's review. All of the HDC's recommendations are in the process of being implemented, and we will be reporting back to the HDC on the compliance with their recommendations."
Sullivan said Health New Zealand remained committed to providing safe care.
"We are confident that the vast majority of our patients receive safe, timely, and high quality services and we are continually looking at how we can improve the way we support and care for our patients."
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