❓ Ms. Mettam questions the Minister for Health regarding two incidents at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital involving elderly patients, inquiring about potential staff shortages and lack of assistance. The Minister acknowledges the incidents, apologizes, mentions investigations, and avoids specific comments due to ongoing investigations and legal matters.
AnsweredQoN 675Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SIR CHARLES GAIRDNER HOSPITAL — INCIDENTS
675. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
Can I also acknowledge, Madam
Speaker, your announcement today. Congratulations on your contribution to
public life as member for Midland, minister and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
I appreciate that you will be making a valedictory speech.
I
refer to two separate incidents at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital that resulted
in a 68-year-old grandmother suffering horrific bruising and a broken
nose after falling twice in less than 24 hours, and a 78-year-old
great-grandmother being trapped in the railing of a bed for four hours without
assistance.
(1) Was Sir
Charles Gairdner Hospital short-staffed at the time of these complaints, as
highlighted by the Australian Nursing Federation's state secretary?
(2) If not, why
were no staff available to help either of these women during their time of
need?
675. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
Can I also acknowledge, Madam
Speaker, your announcement today. Congratulations on your contribution to
public life as member for Midland, minister and Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
I appreciate that you will be making a valedictory speech.
I
refer to two separate incidents at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital that resulted
in a 68-year-old grandmother suffering horrific bruising and a broken
nose after falling twice in less than 24 hours, and a 78-year-old
great-grandmother being trapped in the railing of a bed for four hours without
assistance.
(1) Was Sir
Charles Gairdner Hospital short-staffed at the time of these complaints, as
highlighted by the Australian Nursing Federation's state secretary?
(2) If not, why
were no staff available to help either of these women during their time of
need?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) Two
very unfortunate events have occurred at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. In the
first reported event, an elderly woman with cognitive challenges experienced
some falls. That was completely unacceptable and absolutely not what we expect
in the standard of care at our Western Australian hospitals. The hospital
executive has reached out to the family and has apologised. It has put in place
all the safety requirements to support that patient, noting that she is a significant
falls risk. I think the hospital has been at pains to apologise for that. As
far as the staffing cohort is concerned, I do not have that information on me
and there is an investigation underway, so we have to allow that investigation
to occur, in fairness to the family involved, but also in fairness to all the
staff involved. It is too early to make any assertions about staffing levels at
this point. But, overall, that is not the standard of care that we expect for
our older Western Australians when they go
to hospital. That has been taken very seriously by the hospital executive at Charlies, and I appreciate that it is doing that. There is another matter
related to that before the courts, so I cannot comment on it.
In relation to Ms Hibbert, it appears
that there was a bed malfunction and there is some conjecture and different
views around what occurred. At this time I am not going to comment publicly on
that, other than to say that I am very sorry that she has been injured and that
she certainly feels that she was not heard by staff. There is an investigation
underway, and, in fairness to the staff involved, we need to allow that
investigation to be completed. But she has certainly been spoken to by hospital
executives. They are addressing the issue around the bed and are certainly
putting in place mitigations to prevent that from happening again.
very unfortunate events have occurred at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. In the
first reported event, an elderly woman with cognitive challenges experienced
some falls. That was completely unacceptable and absolutely not what we expect
in the standard of care at our Western Australian hospitals. The hospital
executive has reached out to the family and has apologised. It has put in place
all the safety requirements to support that patient, noting that she is a significant
falls risk. I think the hospital has been at pains to apologise for that. As
far as the staffing cohort is concerned, I do not have that information on me
and there is an investigation underway, so we have to allow that investigation
to occur, in fairness to the family involved, but also in fairness to all the
staff involved. It is too early to make any assertions about staffing levels at
this point. But, overall, that is not the standard of care that we expect for
our older Western Australians when they go
to hospital. That has been taken very seriously by the hospital executive at Charlies, and I appreciate that it is doing that. There is another matter
related to that before the courts, so I cannot comment on it.
In relation to Ms Hibbert, it appears
that there was a bed malfunction and there is some conjecture and different
views around what occurred. At this time I am not going to comment publicly on
that, other than to say that I am very sorry that she has been injured and that
she certainly feels that she was not heard by staff. There is an investigation
underway, and, in fairness to the staff involved, we need to allow that
investigation to be completed. But she has certainly been spoken to by hospital
executives. They are addressing the issue around the bed and are certainly
putting in place mitigations to prevent that from happening again.
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