Read the full investigation here: The suicides, sackings and stressed staff of Tauranga Hospital
Here is Bay Of Plenty DHB CEO Helen Mason's full response to the allegations:
These are devastating events for the families and loved ones involved. We would like to acknowledge the tragic loss of the families of Jeremy, **** and ****. No family should have to endure the levels of grief and distress they experienced with the untimely loss of their loved ones. These have been distressing events for all involved; for the families and also for friends and work colleagues.
With reference to the specific questions received, we take these matters extremely seriously. Therefore we have further investigated all of the matters raised in your questions. All of these matters have been previously investigated in detail.
The investigations have been handled in a manner consistent with the BOPDHB organisational values, policies and good employer obligations. Recommendations from these investigations were taken seriously and were actioned, including apologies being made where appropriate. Where there is an opportunity to improve, BOPDHB will always seek to do this.
In our review we have found significant and material differences between the accounts you have been given and what appears in our records, which we firmly stand behind.
To publish or broadcast the accounts as you have them would be to publish/broadcast significantly inaccurate accounts in the knowledge that you were doing so. The first principle of the Press Council regarding 'Accuracy, Fairness and Balance' states: Publications should be bound at all times by accuracy, fairness and balance, and should not deliberately mislead or misinform readers by commission or omission.
As such, and out of respect those for involved, we believe it is wholly inappropriate to be debating these matters in the public domain in the level of detail outlined here.
If you do intend to continue with a story we would strongly request that the names of any staff members be removed, to prevent any further unnecessary distress.
In respect of the issues raised relating to Ana Shaw, as these matters are currently before the Employment Relations Authority, the BOPDHB is unable to comment other than to say it believes these historic incidents were investigated and appropriate actions taken at the time.
Regarding our stance on bullying and inappropriate behaviour, the Bay of Plenty District Health Board (BOPDHB) is firmly committed to an anti-bullying culture and takes allegations of inappropriate behaviour very seriously. There are ongoing programmes of work focused on this as part of continuous quality improvement.
The DHB's commitment to tackling inappropriate workplace behaviour has been demonstrated through the 'Creating our Culture' programme of work over the last 18 months. 'Creating our Culture' includes a workstream specifically focused on 'inappropriate behaviours' and is one of the DHB's four key strategic priorities.
This programme is sponsored by the Executive Management Team and is strongly endorsed by our Board. It has included over 2000 staff member interactions, through surveys, attendance at workshops, and continuing work to develop further workshops, tools and templates.
We have received a lot of very positive feedback about the programme, from staff, our employee union partners, and our patients, and are proud of what it has achieved to date. It is impossible to work at the BOPDHB without being aware of how much the values and expected behaviours highlighted by Creating our Culture matter to us all.
This year, we are also adding the internationally-approved Cognitive Institute approach to tackling 'inappropriate behaviours'. This work will be carried out in partnership with our four main employee unions.
The Cognitive Institute undertakes careful vetting of any organisation wanting to work with them and have recently assessed and validated our Board and Executive Team's commitment to creating an exemplary workplace culture for everyone.
I would reiterate that my thoughts are with the families.
***** Names have been redacted by The Wireless/RNZ
