Stroke victim labels health district investigation ‘a whitewash’

Chris Dobney

A Coorabell stroke victim, whose wife was told by a doctor at Byron Central Hospital to drive him to John Flynn Hospital on the Gold Coast rather than go by ambulance, says the health district’s official response ignored the very issue that he was complaining about.

Echonetdaily’s revelations of Paul Rea’s concerns sparked an investigation by the Northern NSW Local Health District (NNSW LHD) but Mr Rea has called its conclusions ‘a whitewash’.

On May 2, NNSW LHD CEO Wayne Jones wrote to Mr Rea to advise him of the outcome of the investigation.

Mr Jones wrote that ‘the emergency director has interviewed the medical staff involved in your care and his findings are as follows:

• A comprehensive assessment had been completed following your presentation to the ED, including a head computer tomography (CT) scan.
• The assessment determined that you were at that time in a stable condition and that the best plan of care would be admission to a specialist bed.
• As you were a private patient a decision was made to transfer you to John Flynn hospital under a neurologist.
• The decision to transfer to by private transport was based on your stable condition.’

Why no ambulance?

But Mr Rea told Echonetdaily, ‘Frankly, I’m dismayed by this response. It’s a classic whitewash with the Health Department’s investigation missing the point entirely.

‘Nowhere does Mr Jones address my complaint and the issue of greatest public concern, that is, why was my wife required to drive me to John Flynn hospital after I had entered the health care system suffering a stroke?’

‘Questions that need answering include:

• Whether the Byron Hospital Emergency Department requested an ambulance to transfer me;
• If so, what was the response from the Ambulance Service?
• If a request was not made, why not?
• Is it Health Department policy to encourage inter-hospital transfers of stroke patients by private vehicle?
• If not, why was this done in our case?

‘These questions are left unanswered by Mr Jones. He doesn’t mention the ambulance once in his letter.  What does he think our complaint is about?’ Mr Rea queried.

‘Also, Mr Jones uses the word ‘stable’ to describe my condition when the reality was that my condition deteriorated noticeably in the time taken to drive me to John Flynn. On arrival, I could barely get out of my wife’s car and barely walk when I did,’ Mr Rea said.

Patronising

At the end of the letter, Mr Jones wrote, ‘I sincerely apologise for the distress you and your wife experienced during your admission to Byron Central Hospital and would like to assure you that we will be reviewing the transfer policy in response to your experience to ensure all decisions that made are clearly explained to patients and their carers.’

But Mr Rea believes this undertaking ‘is a far from adequate response to the issues raised by my experience. I note that he apologises sincerely for my experience at the hands of Byron Central Hospital but nowhere makes clear what it is he is apologising for. ‘

‘The idea that my complaint derived from a lack of comprehension by my wife and myself is false and highly patronising. The point is that we should never have been required to drive ourselves to John Flynn,’ Mr Rea said.