17 March 2025
Rodney Parsons
[FYI request #29388 email]
Tēnā koe Rodney
Your request for official information, reference: HNZ00073648
Thank you for your email on 1 December 2024, asking Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora for the
fol owing under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
Yuvaraj Krishnan posed as a doctor at Middlemore Hospital and was subsequently
charged. Whilst this matter is likely a private and confidential matter, the public safety side
is not. That a doctor was able to be employed, even through fraudulent means, raises
significant questions about the safety and quality processes that enabled this to occur.
Please provide reviews, reports, and executive and board minutes relating to the
subsequent review. Outline the steps taken to identify any deficiencies in Middlemore's
systems and ensure that this doesn't occur again.
Given that extensive assessment and treatment by this individual, appears to have
occurred, outline the steps taken to ensure all affected members of the public were
informed that they had been seen or treated by the fraudulent doctor, and were informed of
any errors made.
Outline the steps that Health New Zealand has taken to ensure that the deficient steps in
one of New Zealand's largest and most capable hospitals, don't exist in other parts of the
country. Outline any hospitals where deficiencies have been identified, and what steps
have been taken to remediate these deficiencies.
Lastly, explain the office/system/process at Middlemore Hospital where the checking
process is undertaken, how the process works, and whether this office or system has been
affected by ongoing redundancies, budget cuts or restructures, prior to, during or after this
episode with Yuvaraj Krishnan.
Response
Investigation into appointment of Yuvaraj Krishnan
Attached as
Appendix 1 is the final report into the incident involving Yuvaraj Krishnan (the
Report). Please note that the date within the report is incorrect and should read February 2023.
Names of individuals involved under Tier 2 management have been withheld under section 9(2)(a)
of the Act to protect their privacy.
I have considered the public interest in releasing the information, however, I do not consider that
this public interest outweighs the harm identified above.
We refuse your request for copies of executive and board minutes relating to the review into Mr
Krishnan’s employment under section 18(e) of the Act on the grounds that the minutes do not exist.
Counties Manukau District Health Board was disestablished on 1 July 2022. A search was
completed for any Executive Leadership Team (ELT) meeting minutes referencing the case
between the dates of 1 August 2022 and 29 February 2023, this search did not produce any
information regarding Mr Krishnan.
Report
The Report identifies some deficits in the recruitment/reference checking process. The
recommendations in section 4.0 of the Report have been actioned by Health NZ Counties
Manukau. Changes implemented include updates to:
• interview templates, with prompts to ask further questions regarding qualifications.
• the reference check form to ensure referees are also checked against the Medical Council
of New Zealand.
• the Managers Guide to recruitment.
• the recruitment process to ensure the HR team involved in producing contracts checks
possible employees against the Medical Council of New Zealand’s register.
In addition, refresher recruitment training was provided to all involved in the recruitment process.
We note that when Mr Krishnan’s fraudulent activities were exposed, his employment was
immediately terminated and he has since been convicted of criminal offences.
Recruitment processes
Attached in
Appendix 2 are the documents requested regarding the recruitment process.
Redundancies, budget cuts and restructures
There have been no redundancies, restructures or budget cuts within the recruitment team. The
Middlemore Hospital recruitment team continues to support hiring managers with recruitment
activities.
How to get in touch
If you have any questions, you can contact us at
[email address].
If you are not happy with this response, you have the right to make a complaint to the
Ombudsman. Information about how to do this is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or
by phoning 0800 802 602.
As this information may be of interest to other members of the public, Health NZ may proactively
release a copy of this response on our website. Al requester data, including your name and
contact details, wil be removed prior to release.
Nāku iti noa, nā
Mark Shepherd
Deputy Chief Executive, Northern
TeWhatuOra.govt.nz
Health NZ, PO Box 793,
Wellington 6140, New Zealand
