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 A.C.E. response to H.C.C.C. Report December 11th 2003 - NSW Democrat MLC, Dr. Arthur Chesterfield-Evans today has expressed his horror at the “sheer incompetence” of medical practitioners as highlighted in the H.C.C.C.’s final report into Macarthur Health Services released today. “We now need to ask how and why it got so bad!” he said. “The Whistleblowers have been vindicated. However, there is still no clear indication on how the nurses will be compensated for the hell they lived through!” he said. “The HCCC report is very specific with clinical failings, but much more vague on management and administrative failings. There are a lot of cases with very significant incompetence or poor treatment and most of the recommendations about training and supervision of clinical staff should have been happening anyway,” he said. The whistleblower nurses have been absolutely vindicated. While new processes have been suggested, there is no recommendation for resolution of the nurse’s situation in the report. The HCCC has documented gross incompetence, but only looked at cases they were given. Its conclusions state the obvious, but it has not really looked at the management and administrative aspects adequately, and was clearly not set up to do so. The HCCC did not set up an inquiry into the nurse’s complaints, but waited for the government, a year later. Clearly it is not open to all equally. The fact that its report was given to the government 36 hours before its public release means that it is not independent and that its legislation needs to be changed. The NSW Government has clearly recognised the inadequacy of the HCCC to carry out systemic rather than individual inquiries, and has agreed to the demand for an inquiry by a judicial officer. The role of the union in negotiating settlements with payments has not been investigated. “I am glad the government has decided to establish a Commission of Inquiry. I have faith in Brett Walker and I will be making a submission to the inquiry,” he said. “It is likely that the membership of the Labor party with the desire to limit the political damage has become a great problem. The department has its senior staff appointed by the government the senior administrators tend to be the same, as do the hospital boards and unions. In such a culture, criticism is discouraged and “cover ups” becomes the norm. Merely changing staff may not be enough to overcome this dynamic: more openness and a locally- based and representative board should be instituted for all Health Services,” he said. |
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updated:
January 18, 2004
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