The government needs to ensure lessons are learned from a damning report released today by the Integrity Commission, highlighting historical cultural issues in the Tasmanian Health Service (THS) North West.
Shadow Minister for Health Sarah Lovell said the details in the report about managerial misconduct and employee mistreatment are shocking, and changes must be implemented so incidents of this nature don't occur again.
"The report highlighted concerns about poor leadership - including behaviour that led to major project delays, conflict of interest issues and misuse of government resources.
"What's more concerning is the report stated the THS had failed to prevent mistreatment of employees, despite formal complaints.
"Not only this, but past Integrity Commission reports into senior THS North West staff highlighted similar issues, suggesting systemic cultural issues within the service.
"The Health Minister needs to ensure the lessons learned from this investigation lead to immediate action - it shouldn't take several reports over many years to make vital changes.
"Sarah Courtney needs to address any cultural issues that remain as a result, and ensure the THS North West is providing a safe workplace for its employees, where they feel comfortable any concerns they raise will be acted upon.
"It also begs the question whether this is a contributing factor as to why the government is unable to attract staff to fill important roles at hospitals in the North West, resulting in the downgrade of emergency services at the Mersey Community Hospital.
"The government needs to step up, take responsibility for the inadequacies highlighted in the report, and put in the work to ensure a situation like this doesn't occur in the THS again."
Sarah Lovell
Shadow Minister for Health
