Honourable Speaker, I rise this evening to speak about a situation that occurred at the Launceston General Hospital emergency department last night and this morning.
Minister, yesterday you told the Legislative Council's hearing on Health that the Department of Health has appointed a senior doctor to manually audit patient death records. This follows the final findings from the reportable deaths review. We appreciate the information that was provided to the Committee yesterday, but we do want to clarify a few things. We understand this doctor will be reviewing both historic and contemporary cases. How will this work be prioritised? Will you be taking further evidence and input from current and former staff as part of that?
Through you, minister, the acting secretary, I just wanted to note that it was the Health Department's own language that used the word 'on‑site services 24/7'. When I talk about that I'm referring to the department's own language. On what date did the management team complete the feasibility assessment. Did you update Stella Jennings to say that the promise of that 24/7 on‑site services wasn't going to be kept?
I'm going back to the topic I was discussing before. A root cause analysis on Anne Pedler's death had a recommendation to consider feasibility of on‑site services 24/7 and the department accepted that recommendation and said it would be done within a year. That timeframe's long since passed and earlier you confirmed that the department accepted all the recommendations of the RCA, so was that feasibility study completed?
Minister, on 8 August 2022, Launceston woman Anne Pedler died at the Launceston General Hospital (LGH) while ramped, and she'd been ramped for eight hours. One of the major issues associated with her death was the lack of 24/7 radiology and pathology services at the LGH. Minister, in August 2023 you met with Mrs Pedler's daughter, Stella Jennings, and you promised her this issue would be addressed expediently and that the LGH would have these important services 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Does the LGH have those 24/7 services today? If not, is there funding in the latest state Budget to establish them?
It was devastating to hear in Budget Estimates today that Health Minister Guy Barnett has broken a promise he made to the daughter of a woman who died at the Launceston General Hospital.
Minister, I know that this topic has come up a couple of times this morning, and the honourable member for Nelson has asked you some questions about it, but I did flag that we would ask also again. As you know, in June of this year, the report of the review into reportable deaths at the Launceston General Hospital was handed down. It found numerous issues with death reporting practices undertaken by Dr Peter Renshaw and referred 29 deaths to the Coroner. But the review mainly only looked at matters that occurred between 2020 and 2022.
On Saturday, hospital staff said that only 18 nurses were working in the emergency department, which is seven less than the minimum number required.
Has this former staff member now been referred to police or any other authority?
Earlier this year, two nurses raised serious allegations about a former staff member at the Launceston General Hospital.