A Starship Childrens Hospital staffer made several complaints to the line earlier this year - but did not hear back. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Health New Zealand (HNZ) says it is still following up complaints of fraud or misconduct, despite making a coordinator redundant last year.
An anonymous 0800 health integrity line (HIL) takes calls from health workers and members of the public, and Health NZ staff check on what is reported.
Documents show a health and safety representative at Starship Childrens Hospital made several complaints to the line earlier this year - but did not hear back.
An April email showed one manager telling another they could not do any follow up.
"We no longer have the staffing resources to maintain any ongoing followup of HIL matters due to the redundancy of our HIL coordinator in November 2024."
The Starship complaints were about alleged bullying at the unit that treats abused children Te Puaruruhau, and a plea to senior management to intervene.
The complainant said because he got no help from calling the line, he then went to WorkSafe, records showed.
Health NZ said it had made a change to handle this.
Its risk and intelligence team continued to go through all the complaints within 24 hours, to send them on to the right unit, it said.
"To address this, following the loss of a coordinator in November 2024, a written reminder is now included with each referral.
"Health NZ expects all teams receiving HIL reports to follow up appropriately and ensure complainants are contacted where possible."
HNZ proposed cutting jobs at the risk and intelligence team earlier this year.
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