children sometimes kept in hospital longer than needed
Oranga Tamariki has admitted that it sometimes asks District Health Boards to keep children at hospitals longer than they are clinically required while they try to find them a suitable placement.
It goes against the advice of the Children's Minister Kelvin Davis who has told the agency a child in care should only be in hospital for a medical reason.
RNZ revealed in July that a child in state care, who did not require medical treatment and was not unwell, spent more than nine weeks in a Waikato hospital because the agency failed to find them somewhere safe to go.
This was not an isolated incident.
Counties Manukau DHB said in a statement children in care sometimes stayed longer than they needed to at its hospitals too.
Link to article: Oranga Tamariki admits children sometimes kept in hospital longer than needed (msn.com)
