Barbara Stewart MP
Spokesperson for Health
14 March 2013

GOVERNMENT’S PREGNANT PAUSE ON NEONATAL UNITS UNACCEPTABLE

New Zealand First is asking the Government whether it intends to issue pregnant mothers with frequent flier cards in case they need to be airlifted to specialised intensive care units.

Health spokesperson Barbara Stewart says Government-issued frequent flier cards would at least acknowledge the fact that an alarming number of expectant mothers are being transferred to medial facilities hundreds of kilometres away.

“Last year 33 expectant mothers were transferred from Waikato to centres away from their families.

“Each instance cost taxpayers between $8000 and $11,000 on air transfers alone.

“How many more of these expensive examples are needed before the Government sees the light and increases the number of beds and staff in neonatal intensive care units throughout New Zealand?

“Anything less is placing the health and wellbeing of pregnant mums and new born babies at risk,” says Mrs Stewart.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On Failures Of Care For Those With Mental Disabilities

Hard to imagine a more disturbing insight into the treatment of the vulnerable than the Health Ministry report on Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau. The Ministry has found that the country’s only kaupapa Maori intellectual disability residential care provider has been “seriously dysfunctional.”

The ministry says the business has failed to recruit and retain quality staff – and says the kaimahi (caregivers) that have been employed are seriously unsuitable for the job, lacking basic knowledge. But Te Roopu Taurima o Manukau doesn’t get all the blame. The report says there’s a significant gap under disability laws to ensure there’s oversight by qualified clinical professionals. More>>