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A teenage girl recovering from major surgery left Christchurch Hospital the next day instead of staying in her dirty and ramshackle room.
Maddie Collins, 16, has spent many days and nights in the pediatric ward at Christchurch Hospital and Starship Children’s Hospital in Auckland since she was diagnosed with nephrotic syndrome, a kidney disorder, when she was 5 years old.
But in July, after surgery to remove a second transplanted kidney, she was admitted to a single room in an adult ward in the hospital’s Parkside building, where she expected to spend several days.
Top clinical leaders recently highlighted major failures in the hospital building in a letter addressed to the Canterbury District Board of Health.
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STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
Maddie Collins, 16, has spent many nights in the hospital after she was diagnosed with a kidney disorder when she was 5 years old.
The group was dismayed to learn of a plan to retain the facilities for at least another decade without modification, including cramped rooms containing six beds.
Last week, a patient contracted a “scabies” skin infection, probably caused by the rogue pigeon mites on the roof of the hospital.
Maddie’s mother, Sarah Collins, was shocked by the “sad” state of her daughter’s room, which she described as unacceptable.
“[It had] Struggles from broken lights, the wall coverings had duct tape to hold them and it was dirty, dusty, looked like mold on the walls.
“It really was the third world and there really is no excuse for that.”
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The wall coverings were separating from the wall in places.
After one night, the family decided to go home, against the doctor’s advice.
Collins said she could see that the state of the room was making her daughter feel depressed, while she was already trying to come to terms with the loss of a second transplanted kidney.
“You can deal with things being out of date, but it was the fact that it was so dirty and scruffy.”
Maddie was still taking medications that compromised the immune system, increasing her risk of infection, Collins said.
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Sarah Collins says the dirty and scruffy room was unacceptable and she took her daughter home the next day.
Collins filed a complaint with the CDHB about the room.
She said the CDHB kept the room clean. She was so disappointed by the response that she threw the letter away.
CDHB Acting Executive Director Andrew Brant said the board explained “the purpose and function of some of Ms. Collins’ remarks.”
“The wall drains: they are used for the hemodialysis machines and the drains are placed in the wall to align with the hemodialysis machine. They are not open drains and do not pose a health risk ”.
STACY SQUIRES / Stuff
Sarah Collins and her daughter Maddie at home.
He said the rooms at Parkside “might look dated as they were designed in 1985.”
“The DHB has a solid cleaning regimen with rooms being cleaned daily. Cleaning audits are also carried out periodically. “
Brant said maintenance issues were brought up to the maintenance team and “addressed” as soon as the staff discovered them.
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A wall drain used for hemodialysis machines in Parkside’s hospital ward.
The CDHB wanted to upgrade the rooms “as soon as possible,” but first had to complete compliance work to meet building code requirements, Brant said.
The Health Ministry Capital Investment Committee was considering a business case to build a third tower at the Hagley Building and for compliance works at Parkside.
The final business case “assumed” that all passive fire and seismic repairs would be completed in 2021.
Collins said he was told the ward would not be moved to the new Hagley Hospital building when it opens next month.
Maddie had previously stayed in a pediatric ward in the Riverside hospital building.
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Sarah Collins says the condition of the room her daughter was put in was not acceptable.
Part of the Riverside building was planned to be demolished because it was prone to earthquakes.
“The pediatric wards, yes, they were old, but they were clean and had no lights or broken things.”
Collins said it was very likely that her daughter would need more hospital care in the future.
“It makes us hesitate to take her to the hospital because we think she’s more likely to come out with a mistake or something like that in that kind of setting.”
It has been a long and difficult journey for Maddie.
Alden Williams / Stuff
Maddie Collins, then 12, pictured during one of her daily dialysis sessions in 2016.
He had one kidney removed in 2012, when he was 8 years old, and the other was replaced with the kidney from his father Adam Collins.
His body began rejecting the new kidney in a matter of hours.
The family launched an ambitious fundraising campaign to raise $ 300,000 to find a new kidney for Maddie in the US, but then a couple was found in New Zealand.
In December of last year, she began to show signs that her body was rejecting the second transplant.
Since losing her second kidney, she had started dialysis, with nighttime dialysis needed to replace her kidney function and keep her alive, Collins said.
