First published on
Photo: Supplied
As the only midwife on the East Cape, Corrina Parata walked for an hour during Cyclone Gabrielle to give supplies to a pregnant woman in distress.
But being the only midwife within 200km, working long hours and feeling professionally isolated saw Parata struggle with her mental health.
After developing a "fantasy" that she could create her own maternity service, she stole more than $100,000 from her employer Ngāti Porou Oranga (NPO) to make it happen.
Now she's been suspended from midwifery for a year after the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal found her guilty of inappropriate financial gain.
Parata worked under NPO at Te Puia Springs Hospital in Gisborne from December 2013 to December 2023.
NPO paid her a salary of $104,000 and up until April 2023 she was the sole permanent salaried caseloading midwife based at the hospital.
The tribunal heard the demands of maintaining a safe maternity service became increasingly challenging for Parata.
She worked remotely, in a rural setting and predominantly in isolation from any other NPO service.
She had a high workload and lengthy periods of being on-call, often paid for women's medication and food, and even covered the cost of families' petrol to enable them to get to appointments in Gisborne.
In 2023, during the time of Parata's offending, Stuff reported she had walked one hour during Cyclone Gabrielle to give a 23-week pregnant woman in the...
The DBM released P362 million to accelerate recovery efforts, while a House bill is seeking a P15-billion supplemental budget for Mindanao quake victims Claim: No budget has been allotted to help ...