Hospital experiences motivate candidate

Caring for a chronically ill child for the past 14 years, Letitia Isa has spent a lot of time in hospitals seeing how they operate and sometimes where flaws exist.

Amid a national measles crisis, she wanted to be sure her son James, 14, and battling cancer, could be isolated effectively at Wellington Hospital if the need arose but what she saw piqued her concern.

‘‘My son was in a cancer isolation room in ward 2 following chemotherapy complications.

‘‘With little immunity, it was thought he had caught a disease but couldn’t move to the ward 1 isolation unit because none of the rooms were working as they should.’’

However, Capital & Coast District Health Board surgery, women and children’s executive director of operations Delwyn Hunter said the hospital’s facilities team and the children’s hospital had ‘‘no record of any isolation rooms in the children’s hospital not being operational in March 2019’’.

There had been no time where there were no isolation rooms operational.

The children’s hospital, Hunter said, had seven isolation rooms in total – five of which were negative pressure rooms, and two positive. It also had 14 rooms that could be used for isolation of specific cases.

Despite assurances, Isa remained concerned about existing isolation spaces, particularly with the current measles outbreak. It was that concern that prompted her to put her name in the hat for the upcoming CCDHB election.

‘‘Just before the nominations opened, James was given the allclear and I just thought . . . I know we can do things better.’’

If elected she hoped to be a voice for patients and the public, having learned all she knew about the public health system by dealing with illness.

‘‘I’m putting up on behalf of James because there are things that are really personal to his care . . . and part of being in the children’s hospital is you talk to other parents, mothers and my story is not the only story.’’

Hunter said that in relation to measles, the hospital was prepared.

‘‘Our processes, strict infection control policies and isolation facilities mean we are able to safely deliver care if measles cases are admitted . . .

‘‘Early recognition, diagnosis and implementation of infection control precautions are essential to preventing the spread of measles.’’

Letitia Isa, below, has spent a lot of time in hospitals, including Wellington – shown above – looking after her 14-year-old son. Having seen how the public health system works firsthand, she wants to bring about change.