‘Tragically taken’: Woman died after being dropped from stretcher outside hospital

Monday, 26 January 2026

A Whangarei woman died after being dropped from a hospital stretcher. Four separate investigations found a series of preventable errors contributed to her death.

A woman died after a Hato Hone St John member lost control of her stretcher and she plunged onto the concrete floor, a coroner has found.

Margaret Batten suffered a fatal head injury in May 2023 after her stretcher toppled in Whangarei Hospital’s ambulance loading bay.

Batten, who was 83 years old, had been admitted a few days earlier for pneumonia but was being discharged to her home at Lester Heights Hospital.

Her death was investigated by a coroner, Health NZ, Hato Hone St John and Worksafe.

The coroner’s report, published on Monday, said that Batten was being transported on a Stryker stretcher by a patient transfer service (PTS) officer down the ramp when one of the wheels caught on a barrier at the edge.

The stretcher tipped over sideways and Batten, who was secured to the stretcher, fell onto the concrete floor. She suffered a traumatic head injury and died later that day.

Coroner Tracey Fitzgibbon identified several contributing factors to Batten’s death.

On the day of the incident, construction workers were fixing the malfunctioning doors to the emergency department.

There was a policy in place that the workers would be warned if an ambulance was approaching so they could get out of the way. However, this did not occur, and the PTS officer had to navigate a path around the construction work just before descending the ramp.

The stretchers were meant to be operated by two people, one at each end, but it had just one operator at the time.

The loading ramp - which has since been upgraded - was originally intended for pedestrian traffic only, and was not suited to the stretchers nor the ambulances which were being used at the hospital at the time. However, it had been used for many patient transfers and this appeared to be an isolated incident.

Lastly, the coroner found that the PTS officer “had no control” of the stretcher, possibly because it was not orientated straight when they started to descend the ramp.

Fitzgibbon concluded: “In hindsight, if the stretcher had two operators, at the foot and head, this likely would not have occurred.

“If the ramp was the new configuration, the stretcher would not have tipped into the ambulance bay.

“I accept that the PTS Officer also had to navigate through works being conducted at the ED entrance.”

The coroner made no formal recommendations, noting that Te Whatu Ora - Health NZ and Hato Hone St John had made a number of changes in response to the incident.

The two organisations said they had accepted the coroner’s findings.

“We are extremely sorry that this event occurred and extend our sincerest condolences to Ms Batten's whānau,” said Health NZ group director of operations for Northland, Alex Pimm.

Pimm said the organisation had improved safety measures for patient transfers by holding regular meetings with St John about shares facilities and by making modifications to the ambulance bay ramp.

“We have also developed a Transit Lounge where patients can be collected by ambulance for transfer to their home, which has purpose-built facilities and reduces traffic in the emergency department ambulance bay.”

Hato Hone St John general manager ambulance operations, Debra Larsen, said the incident had a “profound impact” on everyone involved.

“We would like to reiterate how deeply sorry we are for what occurred and extend our sincerest condolences to Mrs Batten’s family.”

Internal and external reviews of the incident had led to a series of changes, including risk assessment of ambulance loading areas across the country and increased training for single-crewed ambulance transfers.

Batten’s family declined to comment. On Facebook, her son said she had “a good innings” but was “tragically taken whilst on her way back to the home”.

“Mum will be missed … Will always remember fishing at Muriwai, on our boat at Whangarei heads and Tutukaka, holidays at Kingfish Lodge, Long Bay, Russell and Ngunguru and the great family home at Tutukaka. We will miss her fish and chips, fruit cake and vege soup. At peace now in dad's company playing 500.”

“My biggest critic, and go-to smoked fish taster, gone but never forgotten.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly referred to the PTS officer as a hospital staff member. The officer involved was a Hato Hone St John employee.