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Danica MacLean / Leader of Whangarei
Northland DHB has been found to be in violation of the patients’ rights code for failure to care for a man with bladder cancer. (File Photo: It is unclear if the hospital in the report is Whangārei Hospital.)
A man was left waiting in a car outside an emergency department in severe pain without medical assistance, shortly before he was diagnosed with bladder cancer.
A report released by the Health and Disability Commissioner on Monday found that the Northland District Board of Health violates the patients’ rights code for failures in male care by outpatient urology services.
In 2016, the man, referred to in the report as Mr. B, then in his fifties, was experiencing painful urination, difficulty controlling his bladder, and a frequent urge to urinate.
He was referred to the Northland DHB Urology Clinic in February 2016.
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The referral contained the man’s medical history and copies of four urine cytology (tests) reports, all of which were abnormal. The reports contained information about possible causes of the abnormal results, including possible cancer.
He also mentioned that his prostate gland was swollen and there were abnormal blood and cells in his urine.
However, when Mr B first saw the urologist, the urologist was not provided with important information, particularly the cytology reports, and they did not carry out a thorough investigation of Mr B’s symptoms, according to the report.
Mr. B’s symptoms did not resolve. More than a year after the original referral, he returned to the urologist as a private patient.
The specialty clinic did not correctly identify the man’s condition when he switched from public to private patient, resulting in “confusion” and “lack of communication,” according to the report.
Over time, Mr. B’s pain worsened and he went to the ER, where he was left waiting in a car without help.
Kelly Hodel / Stuff
Mr. B’s pain continued to get worse, to the point that he visited an emergency department, but was left waiting outside in his car.
After requesting a referral to another urologist, Mr. B was diagnosed with high-grade bladder cancer.
Former Commissioner Anthony Hill found that information on the man’s condition was not available to the urologist due to “poor systems.”
It also found that the urologist violated the Code by failing to obtain the man’s referral letter and cytology results (at least after the first appointment), and by failing to consider and rule out alternative explanations for his symptoms, including performing the tests. appropriate investigations.
“In general… [Mr B’s] the treatment was poor and caused him considerable and unnecessary distress, “Hill said in the report.
Hill said DHBs have a responsibility for the actions of their staff and a duty to facilitate continuity of care.
He recommended Northland DHB and the urologist apologized to the man.
Supplied / Stuff
Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill said that Mr. B’s treatment was “poor” and caused him “considerable unnecessary distress.”
Hill also recommended reviewing aspects of the urology referral system, auditing the priority levels given to referrals, and developing a policy on information shared with patients about their public or private treatment options.
Northland DHB Medical Director Dr. Michael Roberts said he “deeply regrets” the harm done to Mr. B “by not having robust processes for sharing patient information, which caused a delay in his treatment.”
“We sincerely offer our apologies to [Mr B] and his whānau for not conducting a thorough investigation of his symptoms. “
Northland DHB has improved its processes to ensure that all patient notes and results are available to treating physicians to prevent this from happening again, Roberts said.
It has also implemented new processes in the emergency department to ensure patients outside the department can receive pain relief “quickly,” he said.
