Staff say the number of lifts in the new Bay of Islands Hospital building was cut from two to one as a cost-saving measure. Photo: RNZ / Peter de Graaf
Health NZ has been accused of misleading the public when it claimed no patients had to be transferred to other hospitals when the only lift at Bay of Islands Hospital in Kawakawa broke down.
Three health workers have contacted RNZ to contradict a statement last week by Health NZ saying no one was transferred as a result of the breakdown.
The statement said some patients were taken to Whangārei Hospital but for clinical reasons unrelated to problems with the lift.
Dr Eugene Fayerberg, an emergency medicine consultant and ASMS Northland branch president, said he knew of at least two patients who had to be transferred due to the lack of a functioning lift last week. The ASMS, or the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, is a union representing senior doctors and dentists.
The lift stopped working on Saturday, 2 November, and was repaired a week later on Friday, 9 November.
It broke down again on Monday this week but had since been repaired.
Fayerberg said Health NZ's statement about no patients being transferred as a result of the initial breakdown was incorrect.
"That is misinformation, unfortunately. I happened to be on a shift there [in Kawakawa] and there were discussions about transferring a couple of patients. One of them was eventually transferred because they couldn't get this patient up to the floor due to shortness of breath," he said.
"Another patient was seen by a colleague of mine that weekend, and that patient also needed to be transferred just because the lift was not working."
Fayerberg also knew of a close call that occurred just after the lift was repaired on Friday.
"There was quite a sick patient and they needed to be brought down to the emergency department. Luckily the lift was working. I think it was like two and a half, three hours since the lift was working. It would have been really difficult to get this patient down the stairs because they were basically in respiratory arrest. The elevator was working at that time so everything went as it needed to be, the patient was transferred immediately to the resuscitation room and managed there. But had the lift not been available it could have been a really poor outcome."
Fayerberg said staff felt frustrated and disrespected by Health NZ's claims about the lift, which failed to acknowledge the difficult conditions they were working under.
No one expected Health NZ to be able to fix every problem straight away, he said.
"But the expectation is to be genuine and to be honest about the problems that are there, and inform people what the problems are and work with people on the ground who are constantly under pressures of these problems to come to solutions."
Fayerberg had contacted management at Health NZ Te Tai Tokerau (Northland) with his concerns, and they had told him they were equally frustrated.
They told him funding had been requested for a second lift and, as a short-term solution, other improvements to make it easier for patients to get up the stairs.
Fayerberg urged Health Commissioner Lester Levy and Health Minister Shane Reti to listen to the pleas of Northland health workers and managers, and avoid a potentially bad outcome for patients.
He said the new hospital building, which opened in 2018 with an accident and medical department on the ground floor and a 20-bed ward upstairs, had been designed to have two lifts.
At some point the design had been altered to save money, and the space that would have been occupied by the lift shaft had been converted to a small staff room.
It struck him as "shocking and shortsighted" to build a hospital with one lift.
"But the more shocking part about it is that the staff in the hospital did tell them, 'Hey, we need a second elevator. What if one breaks down?' So management just needs to be honest about it, and say the decision wasn't the right one and we need to fix it."
Fayerberg is normally based at Whangārei but sometimes covers shifts in Kawakawa or Kaitāia hospitals.
Two other staff members, who said they could not be named due to possible job repercussions, told RNZ "many" patients had been transferred to Whangārei due to last week's breakdown.
RNZ has been told another patient, with respiratory problems, was transferred to Whangārei on Tuesday this week as a result of the latest breakdown.
Staff have also told RNZ of being "deeply uncomfortable" about manhandling sick patients up and down the stairs, or requiring them to walk.
Health NZ's Te Tai Tokerau operations manager Alex Pimm said the lift was out of action for about 24 hours from 9pm on Monday due to a problem with the door.
It was unrelated to last week's breakdown, which had been fully resolved.
Staff had followed the appropriate escalation process and technicians were onsite on Tuesday afternoon, Pimm said.
During that time 13 patients were transferred to Whangārei Hospital, two due to the lift being out of service.
The lift was part of the first stage of the new build at Bay of Islands Hospital, Pimm said.
"Another lift is expected to be installed at a later stage of the project and we are looking at options to bring this forward."
A spokesperson for Health NZ said last week's statement about no patients needing to be transferred to Whangārei due to the broken lift was based on the data available at the time.
Several Health NZ staff contacted RNZ after the statement was published, and said patients had to transferred to Whangārei because they were unable to get up the stairs while the lift was broken.
Staff also told RNZ of being "deeply uncomfortable" about manhandling sick patients up and down the stairs, or requiring them to walk.
Health Minister Shane Reti told RNZ he had been made aware of the issues with the lift at Bay of Islands Hospital.
"I'm assured the hospital undertakes regular maintenance on the lift. I'm told that the team responded quickly and appropriately to lessen the impact on patients and staff," he said.
Dr Reti did not respond to a question about whether a second lift would be funded, as requested by Dr Fayerberg.
