WHISTLEBLOWER GETS SHORT SHRIFT

"It was a mere coincidence that a nurse was removed from a senior role just days after a public confrontation with the then health minister, Craig Knowles, the state's corruption watchdog has heard.

The former director of nursing at Fairfield Hospital, Elizabeth Graham, told the Independent Commission Against Corruption yesterday that secondment of the nurse, Giselle Simmons, to a senior position at the hospital had simply ended early, and that her return to Macarthur Health was not unusual. Ms Graham denied telling Ms Simmons her career was over because of her confrontation with Mr Knowles.

The inquiry, which is examining whether Mr Knowles bullied and intimidated nurses who were attempting to expose poor patient care, heard that Ms Simmons was acting nursing unit manager at Fairfield Hospital intensive care unit when she attended a UTS nursing workshop on February 14 last year.

After Mr Knowles had addressed the class, she challenged him over the lack of 24-hour critical care coverage at her hospital, telling him "people were not receiving good care and some people were dying". Mr Knowles became aggressive and raised his voice, she told the inquiry on August 19.

Soon after she spoke up at the workshop, Ms Simmons was removed from her senior position at Fairfield Hospital. She alleges Ms Graham told her: "You do not say what you said to the minister of health and get away with it."

However, Ms Graham told ICAC yesterday that the secondment had ended early because the person she was replacing had finished her placement ahead of time. Admitting she had some concerns about Ms Simmons's management style, Ms Graham said she had planned to speak to her about complaints she had received from medical and nursing staff.

But Ms Graham also acknowledged that the concerns Ms Simmons raised about inadequate staffing of the intensive care unit were concerns she too had voiced on many occasions......

Two nurses - Nola Fraser and Sheree Martin - gave evidence to the inquiry last month, saying they felt bullied and intimidated by Mr Knowles's behaviour at a meeting in his Ingleburn office in November 2002 to discuss their concerns about patient care...."

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