De-Anne Kelly (Dawson, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to add to an address I made last week during the adjournment debate and to refer to the matter that I raised at the time—namely, surgeons at Mackay Base Hospital acting outside their area of competency and falsifying records to cover that. Since then the hospital has put out a statement, and I want to refer to that before I discuss the concerns I wish to raise. In their media release the hospital, through Queensland Health, said, referring to the surgeon in question:

The surgeon has not operated outside the scope of practice set by the hospital.

Further, they say:

Major surgery he has performed has been supervised since restrictions were placed on him.

This is manifestly false. First, I will go the question of restrictions. The hospital placed limitations on his practice, so they assert, in their media release of August 2005, when concerns were raised. However, that was not the first time concerns were raised. Let me go back to the information given to me by impeccable whistleblowers. In fact, the Director of Surgery in May 2004 placed a restriction such that Dr Khalifallah was not to undertake major surgery without supervision. The competency committee, which met in July 2005, placed another restriction, and a letter from the Director of Medical Services on 9 November 2005 stated, ‘No elective abdominal surgery or emergency abdominal surgery to be performed, unless consulting with senior staff.’ And in another restriction, the Director of Surgery wrote to the Director of Medical Services on 2 July 2006, when the restrictions were apparently going to be lifted, saying, ‘Restrictions stated for major surgery can be redefined,’ and ‘re-entry in full into the operating system’.

The reality is that there were many restrictions, but one fact cuts through all of this: this surgeon did operate outside the scope of practice set by the hospital. How do I know that? I saw the records that prove that the operating reports had been changed. Let me refer to a particular patient. A letter dated February 2006, signed by Dr Chris Pyke, from the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, said: ‘A patient with definite bile leak postoperatively as demonstrated by CT and liver function tests. A blind supra pubic drain in the ward transferred to the upper GI unit Townsville.’ Dr Pyke’s letter went on to say that two records existed of the operation notes. One stated that the supervising surgeon was present and Dr Pyke put in inverted commas ‘false’. So the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons was well aware that the operating notes for that particular operation were false. I saw both sets of operating notes. There was a handwritten operating note dated 16 June 2004, which indicated that the surgeon, Dr Khalifallah, operated alone. I was then shown a computer generated operating note of 3 August 2004, which had been changed to say, ‘The supervising surgeon was called and attended.’ This, of course, is the note referred to by Dr Pyke that is false.

This raises many questions. If, as Queensland Health asserts, restrictions were in place in August 2005, why was it necessary to change and falsify operating records back in 2004? If at that time there were no restrictions on Dr Khalifallah and he was working within his restrictions, why was it necessary to falsify surgical records? Those falsified records implied that he was supervised when plainly he was not, and we know that not only from the two operating notes I was shown—and I can vouch for having seen them—but also from the letter that Dr Chris Pyke wrote in February 2006 saying exactly the same thing. So why falsify the records? Because he was already under restrictions, had operated unsupervised and needed to show in fact that he did have a supervisor present, which was manifestly untrue.

But you will not get any comment from the Beattie government through Queensland Health about falsified records. The Queensland Health media release said, ‘He is on call for surgery but only operates once he has consulted with and received approval from his superiors.’ We cannot rely on that any more. We know that in 2004, when he was under supervision, he worked unsupervised and falsified records to cover it. Furthermore, the Queensland Health media release said, ‘The hospital placed limitations on his practice in August 2005 when concerns were raised.’ This is false in two ways. We know that concerns were raised in fact by the Director of Surgery in May 2004. The whistleblowers told me that. A restriction was placed then, so it goes back much earlier. In fact, the restrictions were not in place in August 2005; they went back much earlier.

A much more serious allegation has been raised following the media release that Queensland Health put out. They said: ‘A review of the surgeon’s practice has shown three cases of concern. These involved postoperative complications from which all patients recovered.’ If only that was so. I now want to refer to patients who have not recovered. A number of people have contacted my office, and I want to commend their courage and dignity, as they have agreed to have their particular cases put forward. It is certainly a great tribute to the fact that they want to be civic-minded citizens and encourage others to come forward. Mrs Eileen Bath in 2004 was operated on by Dr Khalifallah for a hernia. She still, nearly two years later, has an open wound, which she dresses every night herself. As a pensioner it costs her $60 a fortnight to buy the bandages. She has been back to the hospital to ask them to assist her and has been turned away with the statement, ‘It’ll close up in time.’ I think two years is long enough. The blue nurses come and check on her. She would like to have private surgery to rectify it, but she will not go back to the hospital.

Mrs Bath’s situation is very similar to Mr Jack McDougall’s, who was in the Courier-Mail and was quoted this weekend—and he was also in the Daily Mercury. He is a gentleman who had to go private to get a surgeon to rectify his botched surgery on a hernia. But there are others. Mr Michael Pilcher, who had a hernia operation in March 2005, is in a situation very similar to Mr McDougall. Through an ultrasound, he has now found that netting is bulging in his stomach. He is in constant pain. He is worried about the base hospital. He also got golden staph as a result of his hospital period and had a month off work. He is in a great deal of pain and wants to have his hernia operation corrected.

Sandra McGuigan has spent $25,000 to try to get a satisfactory outcome from an operation on her knee. She is now totally disabled and dependent on her daughter, who lives nearby. She spent 17 weeks on crutches. She is reduced to trying to get the Mackay Base Hospital to give her some just outcome, but to date has had no outcome at all. There are others. I will refer to them soon.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time for the grievance debate has expired. The debate is interrupted and I put the question:

That grievances be noted.

Question agreed to.