Dear University of Otago,

ELM2 and 3 students are not permitted access to clinical-experiences or interactions in Dunedin hospital. These aspects of teaching are reserved for ALM+ students who have the appropriate training.

I am requesting to know if there have been any ELM students in recent years, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 who accessed areas of the hospital that they were not permitted to do so.

If there were students who did this I would like to know what punitive action was taken to ensure this would not happen again. This is in regards to the students themselves and any other students or staff who allowed for such an event to occur. I also wish to know how the patient may have been informed or managed.

As this would be a breach of professional conduct and patient rights, I do see that a student who carried out an action like this would be suitable to continue training as a health professional unless they received ongoing monitoring and significant evaluation.

To clarify, I am not asking for the name of any student or worker, but rather confirmation of any such event as outlined above.

Kind regards,
B Melvin