Sanitiser, ward trolley among thefts
Ripping down and making off with a hand sanitiser station is one of the odder thefts of items belonging to the Taranaki District Health Board.
The total value of stolen hospital items in the past five financial years came to an estimated $2300, Taranaki DHB chief Gillian Campbell said in a statement yesterday.
‘‘We do not know the age of the items stolen and their original cost other than cash, which has been taken at face value.’’
In the last completed financial year, ended in June 2020, the most stolen items were money and product vouchers, followed by hospital equipment. That included a ward trolley, headphones, kitchen supplies and a hand sanitiser station pulled off the wall.
Data from the Waikato DHB lists about 21⁄2 pages worth of items stolen between the start of 2015 and early October 2020.
‘‘Thankfully, thefts within Taranaki DHB facilities are not very common,’’ Campbell said.
‘‘Taranaki DHB does not condone any level of theft, but believe $2300 is a relatively low amount considering the size of our base and Ha¯wera Hospital facilities, over 2000 staff and a broad range of hospital inpatient and outpatient services which support patients, their families and visitors.’’
Campbell said theft of any patient’s personal belongings was their own responsibility, and the same applies to staff, who are encouraged to keep their belongings secure by using the systems provided.
‘‘Our hospitals offer secure and varied lockable facilities to secure personal belongings and items of value. The DHB also has personalised card-operated electronic access systems for entry into our workplaces, alongside strategic deployment of security guards across our sites.’’
CCTV and security cameras are also placed around the DHB campus, she said.