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Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Health
- Otago Daily Times
Nelson paramedics desperate for bigger ambulance station
By Samantha Gee of RNZ Paramedics in Nelson are in desperate need of a new station, with Hato Hone St John staff split between four sites as they work to provide life-saving services in the community. The organisation has purchased a 4000sq m section in Richmond, but needs to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in order to build a new station. St John Nelson Tasman area operations manager Anne-Maree Harris said the team's base is a small station in Richmond that operates 24/7, that was first built as a temporary solution for the rapidly growing district. "It's what I would call a three-bedroom home that we utilised 15 years ago into an ambulance station." Harris said on her first shift in the region, 25 years ago, there was a conversation about the need for a new headquarters. Now, more than two decades on, ambulance staff and their managers work from different locations. The Richmond Station lacked adequate space for staff and volunteers to rest, practice clinical skills and safely debrief after complex callouts and there was not enough room to securely store its ambulance fleet, she said. "We're beyond capacity, we have a responsibility to provide rest areas for our staff on night shift to make sure that they're safe and they can drive safely... as well as providing them an opportunity to have office space to do their admin or further studies and clinical work." Staff are split across four sites in Richmond, Nelson City, Stoke and Tāhunanui. "We don't have our managers under the same roof as our duty crews at the moment. They are currently based in Stoke, so that we lose the opportunity to be able to monitor the well-being of our staff... we become more reactive than proactive." She said the crew made it work, but being located in one building would make a big difference to its operations. "We see harm, we see some horrific things and part of that is how we come back to station and we allow our team to talk in a safe environment about their feelings, their emotions, and we discuss what went well, what can we do differently, how can we improve and we've got no privacy to do that on this site." Critical care paramedic Jon Leach was involved with the Richmond Station when it was first built, and recalled that the plan was for it to be moved to a smaller centre in the region, to make way for a larger facility within five or so years. He said since then, there had been significant growth in the surrounding district, which included the increase of an ageing population. In the 25 years he had been a paramedic, there had been huge changes in the issues people presented with, the workload and the care that was administered. "When I first started, we were pretty much load and go and like give you some Entonox (pain medication) and now we're making massive differences here pre-hospital, the paramedic skill set is amazing." Leach said there were several dedicated pathways to support patients when it came to falls prevention, strokes, palliative care and severe heart attacks, several of which Nelson had been at the forefront of, and a dedicated facility would enable more of that work to continue. Data showed frontline ambulance crews responded to more than 450,000 incidents around the country in 2024 and in the past decade, demand for services had increased nearly 90%. Hato Hone St John are aiming to raise $4.5 million to rebuild 10 ambulance stations around the country, including the Nelson station, with proceeds of its annual appeal this month going toward the new builds. The other new stations are located in Whangārei, Waihī, Cambridge, Morrinsville, Palmerston North, Akaroa, Oamaru, Riversdale and Invercargill. It also has plans to renovate or repair the stations in Kawakawa, central Auckland and Rangiora.
Daily Mirror
04-06-2025
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Mum's 'living nightmare' as baby died after she was 'abandoned' during labour
Emily Brazier had no idea her baby had been born until she came round alone, peeled back the covers and saw her baby Liliwen, completely still and lifeless A baby died at just 20 hours old after her mum was 'abandoned' by midwives during active labour and given so much pain relief she had no idea her child had been born. Emily Brazier has told how she was unable to call for help and now feels angry about being "abandoned when it really mattered", despite being monitored throughout her high-risk pregnancy. She gave birth at the University Hospital of Wales alone – and daughter Liliwen Iris Thomas died 20 hours later on October 10, 2022, after being starved of oxygen. Emily and partner Rhodri Thomas, from Cardiff, are now sharing their 'total and utter devastation' at the 'wholly avoidable' death of their newborn baby, with Emily being diagnosed with PTSD as a result of her traumatic unattended delivery. She said: 'I am so angry at how I was left alone. For all the checks I had during my pregnancy, what were they for, if I was just going to be abandoned when it really mattered? 'I have very hazy memories of my labour after being given strong, mind-altering medication and being left unattended with the gas and air, which I heavily overused due to non-existent monitoring - but then I vividly remember peeling back the covers and seeing Liliwen there, completely still and lifeless. I can only describe it as a blood bath. That image will be with me forever. I still have flashbacks and nightmares and have been in counselling since it happened. I can't really describe the horror of what I saw.' Rhodri has also described the guilt he felt at being asked to go home due to the maternity unit's policy of having no partners on the ward from 9pm to 9am, unless their partner was in active labour – which Emily was not at the time he left. He said: 'I should have been there; I could have been Emily's advocate. I would have pressed the call bell and alerted midwives that she was clearly in active labour and needed extra monitoring and help. If I had been there, our daughter would be alive today." Emily was induced due to her having low Pregnancy Associated Plasma Protein A (PAPP-A) – the same as she had with older daughter Carys. She was under the care of a consultant and had several scans over the months to ensure the baby's welfare. It was flagged that when giving birth to Carys three years previously, her labour progressed extremely quickly after she was given pethidine and Entonox pain medication, which she was administered again for Liliwen's birth. Carys received extra monitoring by midwives post-pethidine, as it is known to cause respiratory depression in babies. Liliwen was due on October 7, 2022, so was booked in for an induction under PAPP-A protocols – but twice was sent home due to lack of bed availability. Emily was eventually induced on October 9, but was told there was no room in the delivery suite. She was given pethidine and codeine for pain relief, as well as being left unattended with gas and air, at around 11.50pm. Emily recalls 'being in a cycle of puffing gas and air, passing out, and repeating'. She stirred eventually from her drowsiness enough to discover the horror of her daughter having already been born. Emily said: 'It was absolute panic from that point, they took Liliwen away and rushed me up to the delivery suite, I had lost a lot of blood and needed stitches, IV fluids and a blood transfusion. All this happened while I was still on the induction ward, with only curtains around my bed separating me from four other women. It must have been horrendous for them too. 'After my labour with Carys, we knew the pain relief would speed things up very significantly. All of the extra monitoring I had throughout my pregnancy, it was almost pointless in the end – because when I really needed help, no one was there, and Liliwen paid the ultimate price.' While the hospital contacted Rhodri to tell him he could now come in, he was not pre-warned about what he was about to face, and believed Emily was in labour. 'I got a taxi to the hospital and remember talking to the taxi driver excitedly about how I was about to meet my newborn child,' says Rhodri. 'When I got there and saw Emily, she was white as a ghost and in a bad way, she told me 'I don't know if our baby is alive'. I just couldn't believe it. I still can't. "Staff gave me strange looks as soon as I entered the unit, and all along the corridors, but not one of them warned me what I was about to face on entering Emily's room.' An internal hospital investigation revealed that some of the midwives caring for Liliwen were not compliant with Health Board training and were not able to effectively assist during the resuscitation attempts on Liliwen, until the crash team arrived and stabilised her. Although Liliwen was put on life support in NICU, tragically she died later that same day. Emily and Rhodri had to make the unimaginable decision to switch off the machines, as there was no hope she would recover. Her cause of death was given as perinatal asphyxia (lack of oxygen at birth), congenital bacterial infection and placental problems. 'We were given a private room in NICU to cuddle and cherish Liliwen while she passed away. Little did we think the first time we'd hold her would be the last time,' Emily added. Emily and Rhodri now struggle psychologically, and Emily – who was studying to be a nurse at the time she had Liliwen – has can no longer continue with her career after the trauma she suffered on a hospital ward. While the couple welcomed their third child, a son named Ellis, in December 2024, Emily says the grief of the loss of Liliwen continues to cast a shadow over the family's lives. 'So many happy memories and special family moments are tinged with sadness. I dread family events and Christmas as Liliwen will never be there, she will always be the missing piece, her death should never have happened and that's hard to live with. I look at the faces of my living children and long to know what Liliwen would look like now at two-and-a-half years old. "I will never get over her death, I feel stuck in time. I will never be the same person again. Holding your child as they take their last breath, leaving them behind after their last ever cuddle, walking out of the hospital with an empty car seat, there are so many painful memories seared into my brain. I have lost my child, it's every parent's worst nightmare and we live the nightmare every single day.' The couple have turned to law firm Slater and Gordon for support in pursuing a claim against Cardiff and Vale University Health Board, which manages University Hospital of Wales. The Board have admitted liability for their role in the tragedy. Senior associate at Slater and Gordon, Lara Bennett, who has worked in clinical negligence for 20 years said: 'This is a truly shocking, almost unbelievable, case – I have never come across anything like this before. 'Emily's pregnancy was known to be high risk, she was known to progress quickly in labour – yet she was left all on her own, with so much pain medication she did not even realise she had given birth to Liliwen. The failures in this case are astonishing and Liliwen's death was wholly avoidable. We are supporting Emily and Rhodri in every way we can to secure justice for their daughter after the most unimaginable and traumatic ordeal.' A Cardiff and Vale University Health Board spokesman told the Mirror: 'Our sincere thoughts and heartfelt condolences remain with Liliwen's family during this incredibly difficult time. The Health Board is fully engaged with the inquest process and it would be inappropriate to comment further until the inquest concludes.'
