Pittwater Life September 2019 Issue

Inquiry to cure ‘ills’
News
Given the years of emotion surrounding
the conception, construction
and delivery of the new
Northern Beaches Hospital, it would
be easy to understand if the current Parliamentary
Inquiry into the operational
issues at the facility developed into a
naming and shaming exercise.
Certainly there was more than a hint
of that at the first hearing at Parliament
House in Sydney on August 26.
However, the inquiry has a more
crucial role: helping to cure the 488-bed
hospital of any identifiable lingering
ills, so that it might function as was
intended, and as it should – providing
professional health services and care
that the community on the Northern
Beaches can embrace with confidence.
The inquiry comprises four hearings,
with future dates of September 23,
October 1 and November 5.
It was triggered in June when Opposition
spokesman Walt Secord’s motion to
examine the privately operated (Healthscope-owned)
hospital was successful
in the upper house; Secord claimed the
hospital had “lurched from crisis to
crisis” since it opened in 2018.
In the lead-up to the first hearing,
227 online submissions were received.
Among them were allegations of medical
errors, poor patient care, staff shortages,
lack of essential supplies as well
as systems failures.
Dozens of submissions called for
Mona Vale Hospital to be ‘saved’ (reopened
with emergency and acute services).
A handful of complaints focused
on the design of the building, fire and
other building concerns, plus parking
charges and the hospital food.
Save Mona Vale Hospital chair Parry
Thomas told the Inquiry that “... the
problems plaguing NBH are not unusual
for Public-Private partnerships”.
He pointed out that in recent decades
governments had to buy back three
similarly run hospitals, including Port
Macquarie which was set up in the early
1990s, despite opposition from community
groups and unions, and bought
back in 2005.
He added that Port Macquarie also
suffered ‘teething problems’ – similar to
those documented at NBH – which happened
to last over a decade.
“The Northern Beaches community
should not have to endure years of
‘teething problems’ as occurred at Port
Macquarie,” he said. “Given the size of
NBH compared to the 160 beds at Port
Macquarie, even more dramatic and
rapid action is needed.
“We believe the NSW Government
should... take over the Northern Beaches
Hospital now and return acute services
to Mona Vale Hospital.”
But Healthscope Interim CEO Richard
Royle refuted claims of ongoing systemic
and operational failures, submitting
that improvement had been clearly demonstrated
by the feedback from patients
cared for over the past nine months and
the clinical outcome data that they were
now able to publish on their website, in
line with Healthscope’s Clinical Governance
Framework.
“We take ownership of the past and
restate our commitment to ongoing
improvement and high-quality patient
outcomes,” Mr Royle said. “We do not
seek to deflect responsibility, and we
acknowledge mistakes have been made.
At the same time, we point to the significant
achievements that the NBH team
has made to rectify those mistakes.
6 SEPTEMBER 2019
The Local Voice Since 1991