Level 2, Wintec House
P 0800 86 22 84
Corner Anglesea and Nisbet Sts
info@tepūkenga.ac.nz
Hamilton 3204
tepūkenga.ac.nz
27 April 2023
AS Van Wey
By ema
il: [FYI request #22005 email]
Tēnā koe AS Van Wey
Request under the Official Information Act 1982 – Te Pūkenga Wintec nursing students
I refer to your email of 6 March 2023, requesting information from Te Pūkenga – New Zealand Institute
of Skills and Technology trading as Wintec (Wintec) under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA).
On 3 April, we sent you a notification of an extension to the time period for making a decision on your
request of 15 working days. This was due to your request necessitating a manual search through a
large quantity of information, and consultations necessary to make a decision on your request.
On 11 April, we sent you a notification of partial transfer of your request as, after a more in-depth
search and consultation, we do not hold the information in response to part of your request and
believed it would be held by Te Whatu Ora Waikato (previously the Waikato District Health Board)
and/or we believed it to be more closely connected with the functions of Te Whatu Ora.
This letter provides a formal decision under the OIA on the remainder of your request quoted below:
I am writing to request the following. All manuals, policies, procedural documents and best
practices for
(a) the placement of nursing students; and
(b) the documentation of their training at public hospitals; and
(c) evidence of their supervision; and
(d) responsibilities of supervising physicians/staff, hospitals, and students for documenting
engagement with patients; and
(e) reporting observed unethical conduct by medical staff or other students.
…
From 1 January 2019 to present, all reports made by nursing students to Te Pukenga where
they had either witnessed unethical conduct by any Waikato DHB staff, or felt pressured to
engage in unethical conduct by Waikato DHB staff, whether they engaged in unethical
conduct or not, or felt bullied by Waikato DHB staff.
For clarity, unethical conduct would include, but not be limited to:
* not taking observational notes;
* not placing observational notes in the patient file;
* being present during a surgery without having spoken with the patient and obtaining the
patients written informed consent prior to the date of the surgery;
* doing more than just observing a surgical procedure without having spoken with the
patient and obtaining their informed consent prior to the day of surgery on patients;
* performing rectal or vaginal exams to sedated patients when the patient was sedated, and
in the hospital for a reason unrelated to the rectal or vaginal exams.
Background As at 1 January 2023, al 16 of New Zealand’s former Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics (ITPs)
and eight Industry Training Organisations (previously known as Transitional Industry Training
Organisations or TITOs) have official y transitioned into Te Pūkenga. These former ITPs and TITOs are
now operating as ‘business divisions’ of Te Pūkenga.
As you refer to Te Pūkenga as “
formerly Wintech [sic]” in your request, we have interpreted your
request as requesting information held by and in relation to Wintec nursing students only.
Please note that due to the historic nature of your request and the documents attached, several of
them still refer to Te Whatu Ora Waikato as Waikato District Heath Board (DHB).
The decision Fourteen documents that guide placement of nursing students of Wintec fal within scope of your
request. Of those 14, we are providing you with 13, as one is publicly available online. The documents
are detailed below and set out in the table attached as
Appendix One. The 13 documents are attached
as
Appendix Two.
We have withheld individual names, personal information and contact details from four of these
documents with reliance on section 9(2)(a) of the OIA, to protect the privacy of natural persons. We
do not believe the need to withhold these personal details is outweighed by the public interest in
release.
About the information being released
Information on the guidelines and processes for students on placement at Te Whatu Ora Waikato can
be found in the fol owing documents:
• Wintec nursing student placement within Waikato DHB (refer Document 1)
• A guide to nursing student placement within Waikato DHB (refer Document 2)
- Accessing Wintec student al ocator (refer Document 3)
- Clinical arrangements for Wintec Students (refer Document 4)
- Wintec/Waikato District Heath Board - Issues in practice (refer Document 5)
Information on the guidance documents for clinical supervision roles can be found in the fol owing
documents:
• Clinical Tutor expectations (refer Document 6)
• Clinical Liaison Nurse - Roles and Responsibilities (refer Document 7)
• Academic Liaison Nurse: Roles and Responsibilities (refer Document 8)
Information on the training of preceptor nurses, or providing clinical practice instructions to nurses,
can be found in the ‘Preceptorship of Nurses in Practice’, which is publicly available through Te
Pūkenga Wintec’s website at
Preceptorship of Nurses in Practice (wintec.ac.nz)
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The Wintec Bachelor of Nursing Clinical Handbook is attached at Document 9, ‘Bachelor of Nursing
Handbook’.
Wintec has teaching and clinical tutor staff who are responsible for providing clinical and academic
supervision to students on placement. Clinical tutors may hear case summaries as they support their
students to complete competency assignments. All Te Whatu Ora patient information is intended to
be shared in such a way as to not personally identify the patient to others who were not directly
involved in the care. Any patient care information is confidential in accordance with medical records
legislation. It is not shared with, nor recorded by Wintec staff. Clinical tutors keep manual summary
support/contact notes, which are in turn manual y archived once student grades are finalised.
Te Whatu Ora Waikato has a standard confidentiality agreement. Every student and Wintec staff
member is required to sign this agreement prior to placement at Te Whatu Ora Waikato and its’
subsidiaries. This is attached at Document 10, ‘Confidentiality Contract – Access to information
declaration’.
If a student has concerns, including those related to observed practice, the below Wintec issues in
Clinical Practice, Complaints, and Safety and Wellbeing processes are implemented as guided by their
Te Whatu Ora preceptor and/or their Wintec clinical tutor:
• Managing Student Issues in Clinical Placement (refer Document 11)
• Wintec/Waikato District Heath Board Issues in Practice (refer Document 5 above)
• Accident and Incident Reporting (refer Document 12)
• Student Voice (refer Document 13)
If this process was initiated, the relevant Wintec manager responsible for that placement
contract/student co-hort would be notified to provide support for the student. We note that any Te
Whatu Ora clinical or staff incidents not identified or reported by, or directly impacting, students are
internal y managed by Te Whatu Ora and would not be notified to Wintec.
In relation to the second part of your request quoted above, we have noted the published paper you
referred to and have interpreted your request to be for al reports made by nursing students to Wintec
in relation to unethical conduct specifically regarding patient care.
All such cases would be managed using the above processes (refer Documents 11-13). Reports of
outcomes of investigation would be escalated by the Centre Director to the Executive Dean as
appropriate.
From January 2019 to 6 March 2023, Wintec has no record of complaint of concern from its nursing
students relating to the unethical conduct regarding patient care by Te Whatu Ora Waikato.
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You have the right to make a complaint to the Ombudsman under section 28(3) of the OIA if you are
not happy with this response. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or by cal ing 0800 802 602.
Ngā mihi
Peter Winder
Tumuaki | Chief Executive
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