Page 1783 - Week 05 - Thursday, 16 May 2019
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The CEO has informed me that feedback received last year was all followed up and investigated at the time, with no substantiated evidence that consent was not given. There was the issue of the anonymous feedback provided by email in February this year. While that was unable to be investigated because it was anonymous, CHS took the opportunity to proactively send a message to maternity staff reminding them of the appropriate processes for examination and consent.
I understand that the fifth piece of consumer feedback was received verbally and CHS are continuing to follow up with the woman concerned. In addition to the audit review, a review of Riskman was undertaken to see if any staff feedback required further investigation. While some staff have raised general concerns regarding consent, a review of Riskman reports identified no incidents of this nature that have been reported in the last year.
Following the meeting on 12 March 2019, a number of strategies have been developed by CHS to further address staff concerns and distress, including commissioning a business consultant with extensive health service experience to work with our maternity services team. The aim of this project in maternity services is to support team members to identify the strengths, challenges and opportunities that exist to build a sustainable culture of safety and respect, focused on delivering a variety of options for women during pregnancy, birth and postnatally.
In respect of reviewing the informed consent process, CHS is engaging an external senior and respected midwife and obstetrician, supported by legal advice, to work with medical and midwifery staff to develop a joint understanding of informed consent. The employee assistance program is also available when conducting one-on-one and group debriefings for all staff.
I turn to holding a workshop with the birth suite midwifery team leaders and obstetric registrars. Through engaging in positive and open discussions at this workshop in early April, staff had the opportunity to work together to identify solutions to issues raised and to build incremental steps toward achieving the workplace environment that genuinely supports a multidisciplinary service.
Finally, there are regular meetings of the women, youth and children leadership group. The group continues to meet regularly to ensure positive workplace initiatives continue to support the delivery of safe and quality care. This highlights the importance with which the government and CHS take this issue and also the care and support we have for staff who work in maternity services, who do a wonderful job bringing new life into the world and supporting women and their families during the birth of their child.
The staff who work in our hospitals are people. They are our friends and family members. They are highly skilled and committed. They deserve our respect and support and I would urge those opposite to reflect on that. If they are accused of what are essentially crimes, they should be afforded an opportunity to have those matters investigated and resolved, as should the patients involved in what are very personal issues, rather than have such unsubstantiated claims made public, least of all for political pointscoring.
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