PAPERWORK OBSESSION TRUMPS MEDICAL CARE

The latest news from Australia in the "Dr. Death" saga

The Jayant Patel debacle was a disaster waiting to happen because of the fundamental systemic failure that exists in Queensland Health, a former Bundaberg Hospital executive said yesterday. Dr Brian Thiele, an internationally acclaimed vascular surgeon who worked as Bundaberg's director of medical services from 1994-1999, launched a scathing attack on his former employer yesterday but emphasised his overriding desire was to see the system fixed. The private specialist ended all involvement with the hospital in 2004 because of his frustrations.

Dr Thiele said although he had little direct contact with Dr Patel during his tenure, the present fiasco was symptomatic of a downward slide in the health system he believed started when management began referring to patients as "clients".

He said in one of his few encounters with Dr Patel his impression was that the surgeon was a bit "gung ho", and Dr Thiele was distressed that despite his own extensive surgical experience in the US no one asked him to check Dr Patel's credentials. "It's a terrible shame that the fundamental phone call was not made to check his referees or where he trained." Dr Thiele also said the department's liking of paperwork and compiling reports was destructive because it often prevented the truth from emerging. He said employees were reluctant to discuss real problems because of a "control freak mentality" in the bureaucracy that only encouraged good news. "In Queensland Health there is a very strong culture of pleasing the boss," Dr Thiele said. "Somebody needs to go through Queensland Health with a big knife and be absolutely ruthless."

But while Dr Thiele was unrelenting in his criticism of the administration, he praised the "huge repository" of individual talent in the system. He said those employees were the ones who would eventually bear the brunt of fixing the problems.

The state's fiscal arrangements which saw Treasury dictate how much money would go to health services also came under attack. "My experience was Treasury exerted a very powerful degree of control over the Department of Health. The politicisation has become so intense it has a negative effect," Dr Thiele said. He said he could not apportion blame to individuals in the hospital hierarchy because they, too, were victims of the system. But he claimed the hospital's existing District Health Council, a body that oversees administration at a local level, was "a joke" because it had no authority to delve into hospital issues. He said staff and public confidence could be boosted by wresting control of the hospital out of the hands of Queensland Health and delivering it back to the community.

Dr Thiele's blunt assessment sparked a spontaneous round of applause from the public gallery when he finished his evidence yesterday afternoon. Inquiry chairman Tony Morris, QC, thanked Dr Thiele for his honesty and said the public reaction spoke for itself.

Source

***************************

For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation.

Comments? Email me here. If there are no recent posts here, the mirror site may be more up to date. My Home Page is here or here.

***************************