Page 623 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 24 February 2010
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(d) ensure that the Board of Inquiry’s scope include allegations of poor clinical outcomes, bullying and intimidation, poor communication, poor relationships between clinical staff and management, and of a toxic workplace environment across all departments of TCH; and
(e) appoint the Board of Inquiry by 15 March 2010 and to provide a copy of the Board’s report to the Assembly on completion of its inquiry; and
(3) calls on the government to issue the Board of Inquiry with the following terms of reference:
(a) to investigate, report and make recommendations on allegations made by current and former staff of TCH in relation to:
(i) workplace misconduct including bullying and intimidation;
(ii) dysfunctional communication and relationships between clinical staff and management;
(iii) hostility and retribution directed towards staff who make complaints; and
(iv) poor clinical outcomes, or the potential for such outcomes, arising from an alleged dysfunctional workplace environment;
(b) to review the existing staff complaints handling procedures within TCH and make recommendations for improvements as necessary.
This is a very serious issue that has arisen of late at the Canberra Hospital. Serious allegations have been made and obviously a lot of concerns have been expressed. The first and key concern that I have is that of patient safety. Specifically, it is for the safety of women and children and it is a concern not in the quality of the clinicians but a concern that a dysfunctional workplace, a “toxic workplace environment”, which is the way it has been described, will lead to death, or possibly could lead to death, or serious injury, if it has not done so already.
We need to make sure that the workplace culture is such that it provides a safe environment. Allow me to quote from Andrew Foote. Dr Foote is the Chairman of the ACT branch of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and in that role he represents the clinical expertise of obstetricians and gynaecologists here in the ACT. In the Canberra Times on 23 February, he is quoted as saying:
We were concerned that the minister was trivialising this issue and writing it off as doctor politics, but it’s really about patient safety and the safety for women and babies.
That is the issue, and it is a serious issue. The second concern I have, and I am putting them right up front, is that about sustainability of staff at the Canberra Hospital. We know that we have had doctors who have left; at this stage, to my understanding, it is nine doctors, of whom four were registrars and five were qualified obstetricians. The long-term implications of that are dire. We are seeing that other doctors are writing to
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