Infection control was tightened at Queen Mary Maternity Centre in Dunedin Hospital after eight women contracted ‘‘significant'' infections.
Southern District Health Board chief medical officer Dr Nigel Millar said the infections occurred in January and February and the maternity team had reviewed the cases.
‘‘The maternity team have enhanced their vigilance of the processes necessary to prevent transmission of infection, including cleaning and hand hygiene.''
Some of the infections occurred in Caesarean section wounds.
‘‘The infecting bacteria were not all the same and none were multi-resistant organisms.
‘‘No common factor was identified as a source or means of cross-infection.
‘‘This grouping of infections were recorded as an incident as this was not an outbreak, nor an antimicrobial resistant bug, with no direct connection between cases.''
Infections could affect a woman's ability to recover from childbirth.
‘‘Standards of infection prevention and control were reviewed as part of the investigation with staff and access holders being reminded of the need for vigilance with precautions.''
The grouping of infections emerged after a woman left a message on an Otago Daily Times social media page questioning the lack of publicity about the incident.
The board has not uploaded a patient services report to its website since February, which because of a reporting time lag covers December 2015.
Before board meetings were cancelled last year, members used to receive the reports every month, and they were made public. Former board member Dr Branko Sijnja told the ODT that while reporting structures were still in place at the health board, there was a lack of public oversight.
‘‘This is the concern I had way back when the commissioner was put in that in fact the democratic process has been altered.
‘‘Our meetings were always public, and people could come along, and now they're not,'' Dr Sijnja said.
