Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-03-16 Daily Xml

Contents

Hospital Management

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS (15:01): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Health and Wellbeing regarding health.

Leave granted.

The Hon. I. PNEVMATIKOS: Last Monday, the salaried officers association's Bernadette Mulholland revealed that patients are being discharged from hospital early under pressure from hospital administrators. She said:

The pressure to get people out of hospital has become so great we are now seeing administrators actually directing medical officers to discharge patients before they are ready to go.

My questions to the minister are:

1. What steps has the minister personally taken to investigate claims of hospital administrators pressuring doctors to discharge patients before it is safe to do so?

2. If the allegation is true, is this a breach of the Public Sector Code of Ethics and will this be escalated to the OPI or some other integrity body?

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (15:02): The honourable member asks me what action I have taken in terms of looking into the claims. I am in the process of making arrangements to meet with the association to receive more information about the claims they have made.