Beryl Crosby has told media that people are already terrified when speaking out about the healthcare system in Queensland. Any further suggestions or threats of ‘penalties’ could have them understandably choosing to instead stay silent.
And she also knows what it personally takes. Crosby became the public face of injured patients treated by disgraced surgeon Dr Jayant Patel, when she went public in 2005 with her experiences of the doctor, and later helped others in the community to also share their stories.
Crosby continues to be a powerful advocate for hospital safety and garner publicity regarding the complaints she receives from patients and healthcare workers about what they see and experience in Queensland hospitals.
Her work contributed to an inquiry that occurred into inadequate care leading to botched surgeries and the deaths of babies at Mackay Hospital and Health Service, which resulted in the entire board being sacked, as well as key and immediate reforms to support patient safety.
Would such investigations have happened, if a staff member hadn’t called and reported an issue around a woman being harmed in the hospital, which ultimately sparked further reviews to discover more? Would the toxic work culture that was discovered in the hospital, still be occurring today if not for the voices of those who spoke out?
It takes serious courage to call these things out – as it takes courage for individual whistleblowers, even when anonymous, to take their allegations to someone like Crosby, or to the media, or to the Opposition, or elsewhere. When it comes to healthcare, we have seen over and over again that so often many of those calling these issues out are women.
When it comes to matters concerning healthcare, it’s this courage that can ultimately go on to save lives. It’s patients and those working within the system that can identify key issues and problems they come across, with the media headlines often resulting in inquiries, resulting in prominent people being shown the door, and politicians acting on legislating necessary changes and risks addressed.
And any good bureaucrat – along with any politicians who has any kind of thought for their legacy – should want to encourage whistleblowers to speak up and to make submissions and uncover and reveal the issues occurring across various parts of the health system that may not otherwise be seen or get attention, until its too late.
That’s why it was so difficult to hear that Shaun Drummond, the director-general of Queensland Health, had made a submission to a public disclosure laws inquiry that penalties should be given “consideration” for those disclosing information to journalists.
Why would anyone leading a state’s health system want to add more fears and concerns to those who want to report and act on wrongdoings?
His submission into a review of the Public Interest Disclosure Act dated 17 February 2023 said that: “Consideration could be given to expanding this provision to include penalties for inappropriately disclosing relevant information to journalists where a department is dealing with the matter.”
Understandably, Crosby called for the Drummond to go, declaring earlier this week that the submission had “threatened” Queensland Health staff members by suggesting they shouldn’t be protected and face harsher penalties for speaking out publicly about patents’ safety. She said his position is untenable, and urged the Minister for Health Shannon Fentiman to sack him.
Drummond has since decided to stand down, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed in a press conference on Wednesday. This is the right move.
Also right was Shannon Fentiman, Queensland Health Minister, who gave her resounding support to whistleblowers, and declared she did not agree with Queensland Health’s submission.
She said the submission had been lodged months ok before she became health minister, and that she did not support it
As Crosby says about the whistleblowers who report their stories to her, many are “so terrified”. She said that the whistleblower who contacted her to call out the malpractice at Mackay Hospital may never have contacted her if they’d heard such threats from the director general of the Health body that should list patient safety as their number one priority.