The ACT branch of the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation (ASMOF) has highlighted the ongoing failure of Canberra Health Services (CHS) and demanded they address chronic shortages of senior and junior medical staff to reduce serious risks to staff wellbeing and patient care.
The call comes following the recent release of a summary of a report, conducted into the intensive care unit (ICU) at Canberra Hospital, which found that ‘staff are fatigued, feel unsupported, undervalued and did not feel they were “sufficiently skilled” to take on duties allocated to them’.
Steve Ross, the Executive Officer of the ASMOF ACT Branch, stated: “Until the Executive takes responsibility for the impact its own poor decision making and lack of decision making has, particularly on staffing and workload issues, then the poor culture at the hospital and exodus of medical staff will continue.
“The brief for the ICU Review clearly shows that the Executive’s focus is on individuals, rather than the context of workloads, staffing and systemic issues within the Hospital Executive.”
As one example of these issues, the Hospital Executive suspended four cardiologists without pay in March 2022. It has now been six months since their suspension, but the reviews have not yet concluded despite being outsourced to another law firm. Other cardiologists have subsequently left the service. The suspended cardiologists attempted to raise concerns with the executive as far back as 2018 about the management of the service.
“Severe shortages of senior medical staff currently exist across the service, including in paediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology and mental health, which are resulting in the ceasing of some service delivery and the occurrence of critical incidents. Some ACT patients are even being sent to Sydney.”
“Of particular concern is that staff shortages and the workloads of senior medical staff are affecting the accreditation of pre-vocational training at Canberra Hospital for junior medical staff, who are as a consequence more likely to choose employment in another jurisdiction, compounding the problems,” Mr Ross said.
Mr Ross warned there is a very real and immediate threat of psychosocial injury to medical staff, with members increasingly reporting being extremely stressed, and having to seek medical assistance or access personal leave.
“Additionally, ASMOF members who raise these issues appear to then find themselves the subject of complaint. It is critical for action to be taken to amend these problems and address the systemic issues within Canberra Hospital,” he said.
For several years, ASMOF members have been raising with the Hospital Executive the impact of staffing shortages and real risks to the health and safety of staff and patients as a result, yet often subsequently find themselves on the receiving end of disciplinary investigations.
In April, ASMOF sought information under FOI on the ICU Review:
‘ASMOF ACT Branch requests all documents relating to the review into the ICU Division of Canberra Health Services being conducted by Barbara Deegan. Specifically:
All briefing notes, emails, correspondence and file notes related to and/or provided to the reviewer for the ICU Review conducted by Barbara Deegan
The ICU Review conducted by Barbara Deegan – final report’ (ASMOF email correspondence, April 6 2022)
The ASMOF request was largely resisted, although it was revealed that the briefing by CHS to Barbara Deegan included nothing about staffing levels, workloads or Executive decision-making:
‘The scope of the work would be as follows:
Gathering
