Concord Hospital is set to undergo a state government intervention as senior medical staff have expressed concerns regarding issues such as a toxic workplace culture and a backlog of radiology scans.
The hospital’s chief executive, Dr Teresa Anderson, who oversees Concord and four other inner-Sydney hospitals, faced a vote of no confidence from a majority of senior medical staff during a secret ballot held on Thursday.
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According to the SevenNews, there have been growing concerns about a backlog of over 25,000 radiology scans, with experts warning it may take more than 4,000 hours to clear the remaining scans.
Current and former employees told the Herald that patient care would be affected because radiology didn’t report urgent scans.
“That means someone who is not a radiologist has to make the decision,” one former radiologist employee at Concord said.
“Sometimes it doesn’t matter, but other times it’s a cancer that should have been treated or something that needed immediate treatment.”
Health Minister Ryan Park decided to intervene after an urgent discussion with Health Secretary Susan Pearce at the weekend.
Mr Park said it was clear that something needed to be changed.
“It’s important to listen to our frontline health clinicians who have served very, very well, especially over the last few years, and I want to make sure that we’re providing the very best culture that we can,” he said.
“I am determined to foster a process in which participants feel safe and listened to, and most importantly, the outcomes of this process acted upon.”
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