3. Question No. 3—HealthDAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Minister of HealthQuestion No. 3—Health3. DAVID SEYMOUR (Leader—ACT) to the Minister of Health: Is he satisfied with the response at Middlemore Hospital following the identification of a COVID-19 positive patient?Hon ANDREW LITTLE (Minister of Health): I am satisfied the clinicians at Middlemore Hospital made clinical decisions they had based on the best information they had at the time. The team at Counties Manukau District Health Board is experienced and provides high-quality clinical care. The DHB is managing a large proportion of positive patients and they are experienced in handling this. I've been advised by the Ministry of Health that all appropriate measures were complied with in relation to this case. I'm confident the DHB has a rigorous approach in place for the screening of potential COVID-19 - positive patients. However I note that reviews of this event are being undertaken to ensure that this situation does not happen again. Whenever an issue arises clinicians and managers review and make any improvements that may help avoid repetitions of unfortunate events. This is for all things in medicine not just COVID-19. It is normal practice and it's why we have such a good health system.David Seymour: Why wouldn't the Minister believe two of the four patients in that room who have contacted me—one directly and one through a relative—saying that the patient was coughing and spluttering and obviously had COVID-like symptoms all morning?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I have taken advice from all the sources who have supplied it to me which does not include people meeting the descriptions that that member provides. In the end I have taken the advice of clinicians who were there and the judgments they made. The basis of that is that the patient in question presented to the emergency department was screened—as every person presenting to that department is—questioned about whether they'd been at locations of interest questioned about any symptoms that they may have experienced or were then currently experiencing and they judged that that patient was not under suspicion of having COVID. Throughout the time of that patient's stay in the following 15 or 16 hours the patient developed a fever and at that point a clinician determined that it was appropriate that that patient be swabbed for COVID-19. Subsequently a positive test was returned. The only symptom that has been referred to in all of the advice I've received is that the patient suffered a fever and that was what prompted the need for a test.David Seymour: Does the Minister believe those other patients who said the patient was clearly symptomatic are confused or misleading me?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I make no judgment on any source of information that member has. I rely on the information that I get.David Seymour: What actions would the Minister take if he discovered that the testimony of those patients was correct and he had been misled in the information he's received that the patients did not show any COVID symptoms?Hon ANDREW LITTLE: I'm not going to get into hypotheticals. I've been very clear that the clinicians who were at the front line dealing with that patient on Saturday evening and Sunday morning and during the day on Sunday made the best judgments they could with the information that they had. The reports I've received are credible and reliable and I accept them.