Move to condemned ward

Press, 12 June 1989, Page 8

Move to condemned ward

PA Auckland Seriously ill men, women and children were last evening sharing a condemned ward at Greenlane Hospital after apparently being transferred unannounced from Auckland Hospital. The transfers came on Friday after Ward 8D at Auckland closed in accordance with area health board cost-cutting plans.

One of those moved was a critically ill man who had had surgery a day earlier for the reduction of a brain tumour which threatened his breathing. He was taken by ambulance to Greenlane at 3 a.m. on Saturday with tubes in his throat from a tracheotomy. Greenlane staff said they knew about the moves from newspaper reports but had not been warned officially to expect patients. An ear, nose and throat surgeon at Greenlane, Mr Ron Goodey, said six arrivals had to be placed in Ward 22, which has been due for demolition for several years.

“People were shipped from a nice ward to one which is falling down and condemned ... the whole building is a scruffy place and the patients were given no explanations.”

Mr wrote to the patients concerned apologising for the move in an effort to “defuse the situation.”

He said some parents were upset at their children being moved. “If your kid had tubes hanging out of his neck and then got sent to a great big room in a hospital with lots of old men and women in it, you would be upset, too.” The acting superintendent at Greenlane, Dr Toby Whitlock, said conditions were “far from ideal.”

“The building is slightly tatty and should have been demolished some years ago.” The patients had to go into an ear, nose and throat ward for specialist care. Because of renovations being done elsewhere in the hospital, however, the ward was half-full of general medical and

surgical patients. “We were not expecting patients from Auckland: it took us by surprise.” Mr Goodey said Greenlane would aim for quick discharges from Ward 22 in an effort to ease overcrowding. He said Auckland Hospital had handed on a waiting list for surgery of 700 people, which he estimated took to more than 2000 the number of people waiting for ear, nose or throat surgery at Greenlane. “We are cancelling and deferring operations and trying to get patients out quickly.” Mr Goodey said no-one from the area health board management had told Greenlane of the change, and the timing was particularly bad, as the critical-care unit was full on Saturday. The deputy medical superintendant at Auckland Hospital, Dr Roger Greenhough, would not comment on the transfers, saying he had not been involved.