Doctor who saved boy fears for safety at pool
Witness says tot pulled out limp and blue — but not by lifeguards
A doctor who helped save the life of a preschooler who nearly drowned at an Auckland public pool last weekend says he has serious concerns about safety at the facility.
The boy, aged about 3 or 4, got into difficulties at Mt Albert Aquatic Centre on May 4.
A witness said the preschooler had been pulled from the water by a member of the public — not lifeguards — after his distressed mother raised the alarm.
The preschooler was resuscitated poolside and taken by ambulance to Auckland City Hospital in a critical condition. He has since been discharged and is recovering at home.
Auckland Council says Belgravia Leisure, the private company that runs the facility, is reviewing the incident.
WorkSafe is making initial inquiries before deciding whether to formally investigate.
Off-duty doctor Joe Hancock was at the pool and helped save the boy’s life. He told the Weekend Herald he had “serious concerns” about the overall safety at the pool “and in particular about the first aid support available”.
“This particular incident requires proper considered investigation and the overall pool operation clearly needs an urgent review,” he said.
“In my opinion changes required immediately.”
Hancock said he saw the boy carried from the water, limp and blue, and laid down by the side of the pool.
He had to intervene when he saw a lifeguard performing chest compressions — despite an obvious amount of food in the boy’s mouth.
Hancock, a senior renal doctor at Counties Manukau Health, said the child’s airway “looked to be obstructed with food spilling from his mouth”.
“I identified myself as a doctor and immediately turned the boy on to his side to clear the obstructing material.
“I then continued the resuscitation until the ambulance team arrived.”
After the ambulance had left, Hancock said he was stopped in the pool foyer as he was leaving and asked for his name and contact details.
“I was told that there would be a review of the incident and my input would be required.” He has not heard from anyone since.
Belgravia Leisure has previously credited its lifeguards with saving the boy’s life.
The Australian-owned contractor also told Auckland Council a lifeguard had rescued the boy after “seeing him in distress in the water”.
But a witness told the Herald the boy was rescued “by a man wearing speedos” who realised the boy was unconscious at the bottom of the pool and dragged him to the surface. Another woman who witnessed the incident confirmed it was a member of the public who discovered the boy underwater.
The pool was very busy and the child’s distressed mother had been looking for her son for about 10-15 minutes.
“She was frantically looking for her child and she asked the lifeguards for help but they didn’t understand what she was saying at first,” the woman said.
“When they figured it out, two of them were talking and one was on his phone and had headphones on. “They were so slow to react.” The woman saw Hancock take over doing CPR on the boy “because honestly, it seemed the lifeguards had no idea what they were doing”.
“There needs to be some retraining done. It was so bad.”
The woman took her little sister and brother back to the pools the next day because their previous visit was cut short.
“I thought the lifeguards would be more on to it because of what had happened but again there was one wearing headphones and on his phone and there was actually one standing there vaping — like in the actual pool area.”
The Mt Albert Aquatic Centre website says a condition of entry is that children aged 4 and under must wear a wristband and be within arm’s reach of a caregiver 16 years or older.
But a witness also told the Weekend Herald the boy was not wearing a wristband.
Asked why this rule had not been enforced, a Belgravia Leisure spokeswoman said the incident and the sequence of events were being investigated so it was “not appropriate for us to comment publicly on the details of the incident”.
“We’d like to again thank everyone involved in the successful rescue.
“Our thoughts remain with the
child and his family and we wish him a speedy recovery.”
Auckland Council principal pools and leisure specialist Garth Dawson said he would follow up the incident with Belgravia Leisure.
“If there are some discrepancies in that briefing or the initial information that we received, we will need to take that up with our operator,” he said.
“We expect to receive an update on Belgravia’s investigation of the incident where more clarity around the incident, in its entirety, will be presented.”
Dawson said all public swimming pools were subject to independent safety audits, which included validating qualifications and training systems.
“Belgravia is responsible for the day-to-day operation of the centre, including the employment and training of staff.”
Earlier this week a spokeswoman for Belgravia Leisure stood by the previous statement and said all lifeguards were fully trained and “confident to perform their roles”.
“We can confirm that the venue’s fully-trained lifeguards administered immediate care and performed lifesaving first aid, whereby the child was breathing prior to the emergency services arriving on site,” the spokeswoman had said in a statement.
“We appreciate the additional support provided to the lifeguards performing first aid on the young boy by a doctor who was present at the aquatic centre at the time.”
The spokeswoman said there would be a “thorough review of the sequence of events to better understand the incident and the venue will work through the consideration of implementing any safety recommendations.”
Belgravia said the boy was “doing well”.