Relatives of the eight patients who died while waiting for heart surgery at Wellington Hospital have been told an independent report on care and treatment delays released today is not a probe of individual cases.
"This is not an inquiry into the care of the individual patients," Director General of Health Stephen McKernan, said in releasing the report by Christchurch Hospital cardiologists, Professor John Elliott and Ian Crozier.
Mr McKernan told a press conference he had referred the report to Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson to see whether he believed further review was warranted.
The report probed cardiac services at Wellington's Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB), over 25 months from January 1 2006.
Health Minister David Cunliffe called for it in February following revelations patients in central New Zealand had died waiting for heart surgery in Wellington.
The reviewers looked at the records of 16 patients who had died, and found that eight people who died while on a waiting list experienced delays that could have been avoided, including three who had waited more than six months.
A further three died from complications of their illness rather than delays in treatment.
The key findings showed the systems surrounding the care of eight patients may have contributed to their deaths, said Mr McKernan, who noted CCDHB had significantly improved its performance on waiting times.
Capital and Coast board chairman Ken Whelan said it was in contact with the families of the dead patients and would continue to support them.
But he also emphasised that the reviewers had raised the question of whether long wait times, and potentially preventable deaths, were occurring on cardiac waiting lists at other regional treatment centres.
