Wife of patient who died at Waikato Hospital says staffing levels and experience remain a concern
A widow is raising concerns about staffing levels at Waikato Hospital following the preventable death of her husband in 2019. While the Health and Disability Commissioner found the hospital breached consumer rights, the family remains worried that systemic staffing issues persist.
Why it matters
This case highlights ongoing challenges in healthcare staffing and the importance of patient safety protocols in hospital environments.
A widow of a diabetic and cardiac patient who collapsed and later died while searching for food in Waikato Hospital says he was coherent, talking and comfortable when she'd last seen him just hours earlier.
But somehow, Colin John Clarkson's blood glucose levels [BGL] had managed to drop to a dangerously low level, a couple of hours after having his hospital dinner.
Lois Clarkson told NZME her husband was an independent man, and didn't like to be a bother to anyone, so would have gone to look for food himself but was instead found unconscious in a stairwell near the Cardiac Care Unit [CCU] he had been admitted into on the night of 30 December 2019.
The 79-year-old had been missing from the ward for nearly an hour before the alarm was raised, and soon after he was found, he died.
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