Category: Public Media

Source: Radio New Zealand

The government is urging New Zealanders in Mexico to monitor updates and follow the advice of local authorities after the death of a mexican drug lord prompted violence and disruptions.

Following the death of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the head of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, incidents were reported across the state of Jalisco, including in Guadalajara, Chapala and Puerto Vallarta, after a federal law-enforcement operation.

SafeTravel has said that New Zealanders in the affected areas should monitor local media for updates and follow the advice of the local authorities.

It also advised Kiwis in the region to contact the New Zealand Embassy if they require consular assistance.

Travel in the affected areas had been restricted with airlines suspending some flights in Jalisco, including to Puerto Vallarta. Due to highway blockades across the country, bus service had also been suspended in many areas.

SafeTravel said New Zealanders should get in touch with their travel provider for any updates or disruptions to travel.

It said security incidents were also reported in other parts of Mexico and authorities in Puerto Vallarta had issued a public advisory to stay indoors.

The New Zealand Embassy can be contacted on +52 55 5283 9460 or nzmexico@mfat.govt.nz. For urgent consular assistance after hours, please call +64 99 20 20 20.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/government-advises-kiwis-in-mexico-to-monitor-updates-after-security-and-travel-disruptions/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Waikato district nurses are at the end of their tether, as demand for their services soars.

District nurses – who provide care for patients in the community rather than in hospitals or clinics – say they are severely understaffed and it is causing burnout and stress, leading to widespread resignations.

They also say it is putting their safety at risk.

It comes as Worksafe considers a complaint from the NZ Nurses Organisation that Health New Zealand’s failure to improve district nurses’ working conditions was a breach of the Health and Safety Act.

Amy* is a district nurse from the Coromandel and says when she finally gets home after a shift she is so exhausted she can not do anything other than quickly eat dinner and then roll straight into bed.

She has done the job for several decades and said understaffing was the worst it had ever been.

She told Checkpoint she has to be on call, almost around the clock.

“If you go out at 11 at night, you might be out for two hours till one in the morning. You’ve then gotta unwind somehow because you’ve just been dealing with a palliative situation… possible end of life and then have to get yourself organised and come to work at eight in the morning.”

District nurses provide care to people in their communities. This includes care for wounds, IV management and palliative care.

It means nurses in rural areas often have to travel long distances multiple times.

Amy said that due to the staffing issues, they can be forced to choose which patients to see that day.

“It has been for too long, a very invisible service. And it’s only when the wheels start falling off and we start saying ‘no, I’m sorry, we can’t take patients, we actually can’t see them’, that it’s created a crisis. The risk is also that people are discharged without the support that they need. They have another crisis where they end up back in hospital very quickly.”

Amy said without district nursing, 30 percent of their patients would end up in hospital, which would come at a far higher cost to the taxpayer.

“There isn’t a team wrapped around them. Every time they’re at a patient’s house, there isn’t somebody to ring. There isn’t a doctor just down the hallway or whatever. So that decision making happens for those nurses every day individually in a person’s home when they’re right there.

“You can’t just go and get somebody else to just come and have a quick look… it’s not a thing, so responsibility is very high.”

Sarah*, another Coromandel district nurse, said many of her colleagues over the years had resigned because they could not cope with the physical and mental toll of the job.

“I know there are some people that are on anti-depressants, I personally am not at that stage yet, but then it takes a lot to stress me out.

“But when you’ve got a family, I’ve only got a husband at home, but there are staff members who’ve got families and young children.”

Sarah said district nurses can be sent to isolated areas where there was no phone signal so they were unable to call for help if it was needed.

“At the moment we do go out by ourselves, we also go out to houses we’ve never been to before and they could be out in the middle of nowhere.

“You don’t know what you’re going to find when you get to that house. Sometimes, it’s not a very nice environment and you really don’t want to be there, so sometimes we just turn around and drive off.

“But you don’t know that until you actually get to the house.”

The situation is similar in Hamilton.

The New Zealand Nurses Organisation said 34 full-time district nurses were needed across Waikato in 2024.

But NZNO Waikato organiser Nigel Dawson said demand for the service had nearly doubled since then.

“We need as soon as possible to re-do those calculations to look at what is required for safe staffing now.”

Dawson said district nurses in Hamilton are also often confronted with verbal and physical intimidation.

“A nurse had stopped at a traffic light and an offender jumped in with a machete, they didn’t actually take the car, but they forced her to drive around.

“She eventually managed to abandon the vehicle safely, but obviously with significant stress.”

In November last year, the NZ Nurses Organisation (NZNO) wrote to Health NZ Te Whatu Ora and said the understaffing of district nurses was putting their safety at risk.

Worksafe said it was considering the NZNO’s complaint.

Health New Zealand Waikato chief nursing officer Cheryl Atherfold said it was currently recruiting an extra 13 full-time district nurses.

It was also reviewing community models of care such as district nursing, while strengthening night-call processes.

Every Health NZ Waikato car has a distress alarm on each key ring, which staff can push if they felt unsafe while out in the community.

Heath NZ have started their 2026 patient safety calculations and District Nursing will be recalculated.

*Names have been changed to protect identities

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/it-has-been-a-very-invisible-service-district-nurses-struggle-with-understaffing/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Companies sending goods up and down the country’s railways could begin to favour road transport as KiwiRail manages declining assets, an expert says.

KiwiRail is focusing on upgrades and electrification in Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga – the so-called “golden triangle” – and other main freight lines while it manages older assets elsewhere.

The company said it was the only option that would allow it to meet budget cuts of $200 million over the next three years.

It’s preferred option to make “modest improvements” to network reliability and resilience would cost $6 to 7 billion, KiwiRail’s Rail Network Investment Programme said.

But the option it was forced to take due to budget constraints “attempts to keep all lines open but accepts there is potential for some line closures” at a cost of $4 to 5 billion, it said.

Rail, freight and public transport consultant Michael van Drogenbroek, who used to work for KiwiRail, told Nine to Noon freight lines could become less reliable.

“There’s potential risk there, if the main trunk was degraded in some way south of the golden triangle, that train speeds would have to be reduced, and therefore productivity of the rail network reduces, and customers start to move away.”

That was particularly a risk for services that needed to meet Cook Strait ferry connections, said van Drogenbroek.

But he said there was still significant investment in rail networks, and KiwiRail was taking a pragmatic approach.

“What it does mean… is a focus on areas where there is perceived to be growth,” he said.

“KiwiRail will always focus on where the bulk of the traffic is.”

That included coal on the West Coast of the South Island and interisland rail freight between Auckland and Christchurch, he said.

“Whilst it’s a focus on the golden triangle… It’s not an exclusive focus on that.”

Places south of the golden triangle still needed rail investment in the longer term, he said.

“This doesn’t take the option away to do that, but it really does defer a decision in some cases, across what the future state of the national rail network is.”

KiwiRail would not leave “key customers” in the lurch, said van Drogenbroek.

“They’re not gonna walk away from coal on the West Coast, just like they’re not gonna walk away from Fonterra, which moves a huge amount of dairy powder from the likes of Edendale in Southland to the Port of Otago.”

With a “managed declined” approach, there was a point where lines could no longer be nursed along, he said.

“If you get past a certain tipping point, it all becomes too difficult and the regulator steps in and says you have to stop trains on certain sections of line.”

But van Drogenbroek said New Zealand railways were being managed pragmatically and there was still significant investment in the network.

KiwiRail’s chief infrastructure officer Siva Sivapakkiam said the funding constraints mean prioritising lines which are most used: Auckland and Wellington metros, the golden triangle and the main trunk lines in the North and South Islands.

“We are working to save money nationally by introducing new, more cost-effective approaches to upgrade work,” he said.

“For example, we are delivering more standardised bridge designs, where most bridges previously tended to be bespoke.”

Renewals on parts of the network would be “staged and partial”, and increased inspections and day-to-day maintenance would ensure service standards were adequate, said Sivapakkiam.

Rail minister Winston Peters said the point of the Rail Network Investment Programme was to “arrest the decline in network condition through prudent renewals of assets and efficient maintenance activity”.

He said KiwiRail has been spending 61 cents in its network dollar on maintenance and renewals, which was forecast to lift to 75 cents over the coming decade.

Taking an iterative approach and dealing with renewals over years would allow the network to stay open during that work, Peters said.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/companies-could-favour-road-as-kiwirail-assets-face-decline/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A business owner who has lost tens of thousands of dollars due to Wellington’s sewage leak wants a more targeted rāhui so beach users can return to parts of the coast that are currently off limits.

The city’s southern coast has been off limits since the Moa Point treatment plant failed catastrophically sending about 70 million litres of untreated sewage to the sea daily.

The no go zones include Ōwhiro and Island bays, just a few kilometres from the plant.

The results of water samples taken on Friday along Wellington’s south coast show a significant drop in the amount of bacteria in the water, but the Rāhui or ban is still in place.

Wellington Water said work on the larger air vent for the outfall pipe has finished, which should help the flow of water through the long outfall pipe and reduce what goes through the short outfall pipe in bad weather.

Dave Drane owns Dive Wellington at Island Bay, and the spill has already cost his business significantly.

Drane told Checkpoint the business was down $25,000 in comparison to February last year.

“We have no other option of where to take people. The marine reserve’s our big draw card and that’s what brings people to us and we’re unable to dive it at the moment.”

At this time of year, the school would normally have 20 to 30 people a day diving in the marine area that is now blocked off.

The business also runs a dive diploma, training divers for a full year.

“They dive just about every day, they do 100 dives in a year, so it’s affecting them quite dramatically.”

“We’re diving in the harbour when we can, but as soon as there’s a big northerly, it kills the harbour diving for us, like the south coast is where you have to go in a big northerly.”

Drane said the other option is to take the boat out further towards Red Rocks, but strong winds often make that difficult too.

The marine reserve extends through Ōwhiro Bay, which Drane said often experiences pollution already.

“As soon as there’s a downpour of rain, we have the overflow from stormwater. So if they’re testing in Ōwhiro Bay, quite often they’re getting the result of that anyway.”

Drane said he wants to see the Rāhui lifted for places further out from Moa Point, including Ōwhiro Baywhich he said has had close to clean testing for a while now.

He told Checkpoint he is “disappointed and pretty angry” at what had happened, and it was “embarrassing” to have to inform customers that they couldn’t go in the water.

“We’ve got this jewel, Tapituranga Marine Reserve, right on our doorstep, and we’ve spent years just like leaving it alone to grow as it should, and now it’s getting polluted, supposedly, and it should never have happened in the first place.”

“There’s other businesses that are suffering more than us, even, like the surf shops in Lyall Bay and things like that, it must be devastating for them.”

Drane said they would not be covered by insurance for the losses caused by the spill.

“My thought would be that Veolia or someone’s insurance company should have some sort of compensation underneath their insurance.”

While he recently attended a meeting fronted by Wellington Mayor Andrew Little, and various Green MPs to discuss the spill, Drane said no-one from Veolia was there to front up.

“Those that need it, give them compensation and make sure this never happens again.”

Drane said it was “terrible” to be not know how long it would take before the beaches were safe for use again.

After taking samples on Saturday morning Wellington Water was still urging people to avoid swimming, diving, gathering or eating kaimoana along the south coast.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/wellington-business-losing-thousands-after-sewage-leak-restrictions/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Residents of Auckland’s Muriwai have described their frantic escape from landslides during Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023.

A coronial inquest is investigating the deaths of volunteer firefighters Craig Stevens and Dave van Zwanenberg after they were critically injured in a landslip.

The pair were responding to slips on Motutara Road when another landslide fell and buried them both.

Eddie Wood, whose home on Motutara Road was destroyed in the slips, described the events of that evening.

He and a friend, Jordan Mickley, were trying to divert water away from Wood’s property when a slip came down between them.

“We couldn’t see where the slip was. It was obviously pitch black,” Wood said.

“In sort of a fight or flight situation, I just ran and jumped over our fence, our retaining wall, and hit my head on the way down. Jordan was closer to the house, so he ran around the front of the house.”

Jordan Mickley told the court he ran to alert Wood’s wife, Hannah, and their children.

“[Wood] sort of jumped out of the way, and my thought was just to bang on the door, because I knew the kids were downstairs, and get Hannah to unlock the door and get the kids out,” Mickley recounted.

Mickley picked up Wood’s youngest son, Nico, and went to hand him over the wall to Wood when he noticed his head was bleeding.

“From what I remember, I was trying to yell to Eddie to grab Nico. I was going to pass him down the retaining wall, and then figured out that Eddie had smacked his head,” he explained.

“He wasn’t really responding that well. Then we just decided to walk through the garden and down through the mud to the driveway.”

The group made it to Mickley’s ute and drove to his house further down the road.

There they saw Craig Stevens and Dave van Zwanenberg, who had rushed to the scene.

Eddie Wood told the court that Stevens was a close family friend and had offered to help, but Wood urged the firefighters to visit his neighbour instead.

“Craig came over and he said, do you want some help? Do you want me to help? I said no. Do you want us to check on your house? And I said no, just go get Jen out of her house,” he said.

“My main concern was for my neighbour, Jen, because Hannah had been messaging her, and I know that she was quite scared.”

Some time later, the phone rang.

“I’m not sure how much time passed between, but Hannah’s phone rang, and it was Jen, and she said that there had been a slip and the guys were trapped,” Wood said.

While Eddie Wood recovered from his injuries, Jordan Mickley picked up some tools and rushed back to help.

Mickley said he could hear Stevens from under the rubble of the house.

“I could hear him responding, I suppose, to people calling his name,” he said.

“At some point, from what I could feel, it was getting a bit hectic and frantic, and yeah, we were asked to leave.”

Wood, Mickley, and their families evacuated to the nearby surf club where they waited for news about the missing firefighters.

Phelan Pirrie, the chief fire officer at Muriwai at the time, was with the two firefighters on Motutara Road.

He had just rescued Wood’s neighbour, Jen, when he heard Craig Stevens call for help from next door.

“It was then on my portable radio that I heard Craig asking for help,” Pirrie recounted through tears.

“I asked Craig questions over the radio to see if he could provide any information to help me determine where he was, but he wasn’t responding to questions. I could still hear him calling out for help.”

Craig Stevens was eventually freed from the landslide, but he was severely injured and he died in hospital the next day.

Dave van Zwanenberg was found dead the day after that.

The inquest continues this week with evidence from other firefighters.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/muriwai-residents-describe-escape-from-cyclone-gabrielle-landslides/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Police have recovered four historic war medals during a search at a Palmerston North address and are now looking to find the owners.

The medals were found during a search at an address in Kelvin Grove, and police believe they are stolen.

The medals include a 1939-1945 star, an Atlantic star, a Burma star, and the 1939-1945 war medal.

Police believe these hold significant sentimental value and would like to return them to their rightful owner.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/historic-war-medals-found-during-search-police-looking-for-owners/

Source: Radio New Zealand

Three police staff have left their jobs following investigations in relation to “misuse and inappropriate content”.

RNZ earlier revealed 20 police staff were being investigated, three of whom were facing criminal investigations. In total, six staff had been stood down.

The staff were identified in a rapid review of police’s information security controls prompted by child sexual exploitation material and bestiality being found on former Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming’s work devices.

On Monday, Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers told RNZ 10 Police staff, five of whom have been stood down, remained under investigation.

“In total, Police have investigated 18 cases. Several more were initially identified but later excluded when the searches in questions were found to be work-related.

“To date, five cases have been resolved through either disciplinary action or performance management. Three people have resigned or retired during the process.”

RNZ understands one of the staffers investigated is an award-winning detective based in the Auckland region.

Do you know more? Email sam.sherwood@rnz.co.nz

Rogers earlier told RNZ the staff that had been stood down were investigated for “serious matters” that ranged from potentially accessing objectionable material, or accessing inappropriate material while also subject to separate misconduct matters.

Some of the staff being investigated may have had legitimate purposes for accessing material, which police would verify through their inquiries.

Police were not able to disclose the ranks of those under investigation.

Rogers earlier confirmed to RNZ a police officer had been stood down from duty for “inappropriate content on a police device”.

“The officer is under employment investigation for serious misconduct, relating to inappropriate, but not objectionable, material on a police-issued device. The alleged misconduct was uncovered through following recent audits of staff internet usage.”

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers earlier told RNZ the misconduct being investigated was uncovered as a result of the new monitoring measures introduced following the rapid review of the settings for police devices, launched after McSkimming’s resignation.

“I sought that review because of my concern that such conduct was not being detected. This offers some reassurance that we now have the necessary tools to detect potentially inappropriate behaviour.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/police-staff-leave-jobs-after-investigations-into-inappropriate-content/

Source: Radio New Zealand

New Zealand’s Defence Force is continuing to monitor the wreck of the sunken HMNZS Manawanui after a fuel sheen was reported off the south coast of Samoa’s island of Upolu.

NZDF personnel and divers from Samoa have found no evidence of a leak or sheen, and water samples have been taken for analysis.

“The absence of a sheen and any evidence of a leak suggests there was either an intermittent discharge of trapped fuel from a pump or pipe, or the sheen originated from another source such as a passing vessel. Events such as this will occur from time to time as the wreck settles and begins to degrade and as traffic in the vicinity of the wreck begins to normalise,” NZDF said in a statement.

It said salvors hired by NZDF concluded the removal of fuel and other pollutants from the wreck of the Manawanui.

“The salvors hired to pump the fuel and other pollutants from the ship following the sinking were very thorough in searching all tanks as well as compartments that could likely contain fuel. In March 2025 at the conclusion of salvage work to remove diesel fuel and other pollutants we advised that there may be a very small amount of residual fuel remaining somewhere in the vessel.

“An NZDF engineering report concluded that if there was fuel remaining on the vessel it would be trace amounts only, and if any escaped it would likely quickly disperse through wind and wave action.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/nzdf-monitoring-fuel-sheen-reported-near-manawanui-wreck/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A man in his 60s has been charged over what police say were indecent assaults of high school students and a staff member on Auckland’s North Shore.

It was the alleged assault of the teacher, last Monday, that led to further charges relating to incidents against students last year.

The staff member was on duty outside the school on the afternoon of 16 February, relieving Waitematā East Area Commander Mike Rickards said.

“A man has allegedly indecently assaulted the teacher before she confronted him,” he said.

“The alarm has been raised when other teachers saw this confrontation and immediately contacted 111.”

Rickards said police responded with urgency and found the man in the Milford area, and he was arrested soon after.

The 64-year-old was charged with doing an indecent act.

But that arrest sparked further police enquiries into a series of similar events in November last year.

“An extensive investigation was carried out to identify a man who had allegedly carried out similar behaviour, directed towards several high school students on the same day,” Rickards said.

That day was 11 November, and nobody was found at the time.

But on Friday, detectives laid two more indecent assault charges against the man.

“The students did the right thing at the end of last year and reported the offending, this information informed the school network so on Monday staff sprang into action.”

He has also been charged with assault over a separate incident allegedly involving an elderly woman at St Lukes, also in November 2025.

The man has appeared in the North Shore District Court and will appear again on new charges this Friday.

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/man-charged-over-indecent-assaults-of-auckland-students-teacher/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A dog attack that left a Christchurch father and his teenage son in hospital resembled a bloodbath, a friend of the dogs’ owner says.

The father and son were visiting a friend in Bevin Place in Bryndwr on Saturday afternoon when the boy was attacked by two American Bulldog cross dogs.

The boy aged in his early teens was seriously injured, while his father suffered critical injuries trying to protect his son.

The dogs’ owner also sustained minor injuries during the attack.

On Monday police said a 40-year-old woman had been summonsed to court under the Dog Control Act in relation to the attack.

A friend of the dogs’ owner, who did not want to be identified, said the attack came out of nowhere and everyone was in shock.

“I know what the risk factors are and these dogs don’t fit the description, they really don’t,” she said.

“This is not a shit owner, this is not shit dogs. This is just a really, really horrible event. I can’t put it down to any one thing. The kid isn’t someone who’s going to be kicking the dogs or anything, he just ran outside.”

The woman said the boy knew the dogs, who were sisters and had lived with their owner since they were born about four years ago.

“She’s a good dog owner. They’re usually very obedient, they’re respectful dogs, they ask before they eat or get on the couch or anything,” she said.

“The property is well secured. Everything is set up to succeed and for some reason everything escalated that day.”

After the dogs started barking at the boy, his father and the owner rushed to help him, the friend said.

“They ran out there yelling at the dogs to stop and that might have enhanced the excitement at the time,” she said.

“Then they managed to separate the dogs off and confine them and started moving towards the front of the property to get the kid out of the front gate to safety.”

The woman said the dogs escaped and again rushed at the boy and that was when the man was grievously injured while trying to protect his son.

“He got him on to the bonnet of the car and he was trying to fend the dogs off and because he was in between them and the kid, they got him,” she said.

“All the bites were on the legs.

“Our friend, he’s the one classed as critical, he’s actually fine but it nicked a vein so there was quite a lot of blood coming out. It looked like something terrible had happened. It was a bloodbath.”

The woman said the pair remained in hospital and might need surgery.

“They’re in good spirits and they’re recovering and stable,” she said.

She said dogs’ owner had apologised to the boy’s father and he had replied, “what are you sorry for? This isn’t your fault”.

“The kid’s a lovely kid, he’s a nice guy. Everything is just a really shit, horrible situation,” she said.

“I was just speaking to him before and he was good. His son was singing songs and in high spirits.”

The woman was questioning how the attack happened.

“The owner’s devastated. She’s devastated for her friend and his son, and her dogs,” she said.

“They’re family pets. She’s got a one-year-old child and they’ve always been really great with the kid. They’re used to children.

“There was an incident a few months ago where police were searching a neighbouring property and they wanted to come over on to this property to search for whoever they were chasing and they pepper-sprayed the dogs and ever since then they’ve really not been the same. They’ve been more reactive.

“I can’t understand why once they were confined they still felt the need to break out again and neither does their owner. She’s devastated and she’s pretty realistic about the fact that she’s not going to try to fight to keep the dogs. Realistically they’re going to have to be in [the pound] for a long time and it costs per day to have them in there and the chances of them ever saying, ‘yeah, good idea, keep the dogs’ is probably never going to be high and she’s got a baby to think about.

“So she’s probably going to do the really hard thing and it’s really sad because you can’t even say goodbye to them and I know that sounds probably insane to anybody else because these are the dogs that did the attack but to us they’re family. We know them really well, they’re not horrible dogs.”

Christchurch City Council said it had not previously received complaints about the dogs.

“The dogs have been impounded pending an ongoing police investigation,” the council said.

“The owner may voluntarily surrender the dogs for euthanasia or on conviction the court must grant an order for destruction unless the owner can demonstrate exceptional circumstances as to why the dogs should not be destroyed.”

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LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/christchurch-father-and-son-in-hospital-after-bloodbath-dog-attack/

Source: Radio New Zealand

A slightly premature baby who died while the nurse caring for him was on a break should have been checked while she was away, an investigation has found.

The Health and Disability Commissioner report said the case highlighted the challenges of caring for late pre-term babies, those born between 34 and 36 weeks who often appeared healthy but faced increased risks.

The baby boy died at Auckland City Hospital, two days after he was born by a “semi-urgent” caesarean at 35 weeks, three days gestation.

His mother made a complaint to the commissioner, saying his care felt hurried, lacked empathy, and staff did not take her concerns seriously enough.

A feeding tube had also been put in without her consent, she said.

After 17 hours in the maternal complex care area, the baby was moved to a post-natal ward with his mother, rather than the neonatal intensive care unit(NICU).

He was having trouble feeding, and had a tube going from his mouth to his stomach. He was jaundiced and was being monitored for neonatal abstinence syndrome because his mother had been on opioids for a pain disorder.

He had been vomiting but his mother and medical staff disagreed on how much.

On the night the baby boy died, the nurse caring for him went on a one hour meal break and when she checked on him on her return, he had vomited heavily and was not breathing.

He could not be revived.

The nurse told the commissioner that when she left she told the midwives on the ward to check on the baby, however the midwives said she told them none of her patients needed anything while she was way.

Health NZ said, either way, it would not have been usual practice to check the baby hourly, and if he had needed very close monitoring he would have been in the NICU.

Deputy Commissioner Rose Wall said she extended her sympathies to baby A’s whānau for their extremely tragic loss and that the serious complaint needed to be carefully looked at.

An expert nurse who reviewed the case found the baby should have been checked at least once during the nurse’s break as “he was in an incubator under lights, he had an orogastric tube, he was premature, he was being observed for opioid withdrawal and his mother was sleeping heavily”, the report said.

There was also a breakdown in communication between staff and the baby’s mother about the feeding tube and more should have been done to inform her about why it was needed, the nurse said.

An expert doctor found the baby had been cared for and monitored appropriately by medical staff.

The commissioner agreed, saying the baby’s symptoms were monitored and managed appropriately.

But it found his patient rights had been breached by the failure to check on him during the nurse’s break and the “apparent lack of team work” between nurses and midwives on that shift.

“The investigation has highlighted the unique challenges of managing late pre-term infants postnatally and the importance of a team approach to care,” Wall’s report said.

Auckland City Hospital now had a transitional unit for late pre-term babies, as well as those who are being transferred from the NICU.

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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand

LiveNews: https://nz.mil-osi.com/2026/02/23/baby-died-while-nurse-went-on-break-health-and-disability-commissioner-says/