DHB told to apologise for kidney delay

A woman with failing kidneys endured needless delays waiting for an organ transplant because of hospital bureaucracy.

Health and disability commissioner Anthony Hill has ordered the Waikato DHB to apologise to the woman’s family for failures in her care between 2012 and 2014.

The woman died in 2014. Hill’s decision was released on Monday.

In 2010, the woman, then aged 62, developed a non-specific kidney disorder and the following year was put on dialysis.

The woman lived in the Bay of Plenty but was referred to Waikato DHB.

The Waikato DHB is in charge of the Midland Regional Renal Service and had overall responsibility for co-ordinating the woman’s care.

The Waikato DHB was tasked with communicating with the renal transplant service in Auckland to assess the woman’s suitability for a kidney transplant.

In his findings, Hill found several delays in the woman’s transplant evaluation because the Waikato DHB did not follow proper processes, committed errors, and did not allocate necessary resources.

In July, 2013, the woman’s daughter was assessed as a possible kidney donor - a process the commissioner said was ‘‘protracted and of an unreasonable duration in the circumstances’’.

It took a year to assess the woman’s suitability to receive a kidney transplant and a further six months to to assess her daughter’s suitability as a living donor.

Hill also criticised the Auckland DHB for not providing greater clarity regarding what cardiac investigations were necessary for the woman, delays in communication with Waikato DHB, and for not responding to inquiries by a renal transplantation coordinator.

In his recommendations, Hill said Waikato, Auckland and Bay of Plenty district health boards should collaborate in reviewing their systems for sharing information regarding renal transplants.

Waikato DHB has been asked to update the commissioner on the development of an IT platform to help with its management of renal patients as well as other service improvements.

Waikato staff have also been asked, with the assistance of other DHBs, to establish clear guidelines for the evaluation of living donors.

Hill acknowledged that kidney transplantation services are not provided at a national level and ‘‘at the time of these events, there were no national guidelines for recipient and donor assessment’’.

‘‘It was identified that one of the biggest challenges [Waikato DHB] staff faced was accessing appointment times and results from different district health boards,’’ Hill said.

‘‘At the time of [the patient’s] evaluation, staff were overworked because there was not enough staff to manage the volume of work.’’

Waikato DHB has accepted Hill’s findings and said his report included useful recommendations.

The report does not state if the woman received a donated kidney.

Hill said it was not his role to make a finding on the woman’s cause of death.