The recent departure of three senior health executives has thrown the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital into crisis, according to clinical staff.
Metro North Hospital and Health Service is the public hospital service that serves the population north of the Brisbane River to north of Kilcoy, which is an area of more than 4,000 square kilometres.
Professor Keshwar Baboolal, who was reappointed executive director in August, left abruptly without explanation in October.
In September, two other senior officials at the service were suspended and referred to the Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) over employment procurement issues.
Beth Mohle, from the Queensland Nurses Union (QNU), said she heard from distressed and angry staff at a meeting on Monday.
Ms Mohle said staff were concerned about excessive workloads, unachievable targets and a board that was not listening.
“Staff believe that there is a crisis that needs to be attended to as a matter of urgency,” she said.
Ms Mohle said the board must pay attention.
“There is a need for a multi-faceted response to this particular crisis situation,” she said.
The hospital’s Medical Staff Association (MSA) had asked the board to explain why they should have confidence in them.
Staff meeting raised ‘dysfunctional’ events of recent weeks
Dr Tony Sara from the Australian Salaried Medical Officers Federation said it met last week about the issues.
“They discussed the dysfunctional happenings of the past few weeks – whether they should or should not have confidence in the board,” he said.
In a statement, the board said it would work with the MSA, the executive, and other clinical representatives to resolve concerns about recent leadership changes.
Opposition health spokeswoman Jo-Ann Miller said the Health Minister needed to ensure staff had confidence in the board.
Ms Miller said if changes were not made, people would continue to leave.
“There’s at least five senior executives who have resigned from the hospital,” she said.
“I understand that more people are going to resign in coming weeks and we see the doctors and the nurses watching this turmoil and this chaos.”
There’s been a trend of resignations: Health Minister
Health Minister Lawrence Springborg said he was aware of communications issues with senior management at the hospital since coming to government.
“It is really a little bit hypocritical of the Opposition to be throwing stuff around when there has been a trend of resignations for a long time, so it’s not just a new thing,” he said.
“They need to improve their communications and engagement and that’s something which the board chairman and the board have undertaken to do.”
Mr Springborg said he had full confidence in the board.
“Unions will always say that things are in crisis and dysfunctional,” he said.
“What we’re talking about here is an issue with regard to communications in the Metro North Hospital and Health area, and it does need to improve.
“That’s the request that I’ve put through to the hospital board chairman and I’m very, very confident that that will happen now.”