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AMA Victoria comment on the Ombudsman’s Report of an Investigation into issues at Bayside Health
29 October 2008
The report details a number of specific concerns including wholesale failures of administrative arrangements at the TAC and Bayside Health.
We note the Ombudsman has begun a separate investigation into TAC and WorkSafe insurance arrangements. AMA Victoria welcomes this investigation.
The Government needs to ensure that proper audit, compliance and feedback mechanisms are in place at the TAC. As the Ombudsman's Report notes, these processes are not currently robust. The Ombudsman notes that the TAC has sought to deflect the blame for their lack of proper processes to medical practitioners and to hospitals.
The TAC also needs to improve its relationship with medical practitioners who provide care to trauma patients. TAC has recently strained its relationship with medical practitioners through inflammatory statements against medical practitioners that have served only to damage that relationship. AMA Victoria has previously criticised TAC for its clumsy response to the issues raised in the Ombudsman's Report.
Where there are specific allegations of wrongdoing by individuals these should be investigated quickly, with due process and in accordance with natural justice.
The Victorian Parliament has recently changed the law to allow an Ombudsman’s report to name individuals. This new power has been used immediately by the Ombudsman - with the protection of Parliamentary Privilege - to name people who may be subject to further investigation. AMA Victoria is disappointed that the Ombudsman has seen fit to allege wrongdoing by individuals using Parliamentary Privilege before appropriate investigations are complete.
All Victorians deserve access to high quality trauma services. As noted by the Auditor-General in a separate report tabled today, and in this year’s Ministerial Review of Public Hospital Medical Staff, private practice arrangements (such as through the TAC and WorkCover) are of significant value to hospitals and to the community. TAC and WorkCover are small but important sources of hospital trauma funding.
The medical care provided to trauma patients by the Alfred Hospital and medical practitioners is vitally important. Hundreds of doctors, nurses and other hospital staff do an excellent job responding to emergencies, often under difficult circumstances. These people provide a high standard of care which must not be compromised by further knee-jerk reactions by the TAC.
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