ACT Health was so concerned about bullying allegations at Canberra Hospital’s maternity unit that they reported the issue to authorities, prior to an adverse report from the accreditation authority.
The ABC has been told staff bullying has plagued the department since concerns were first raised four years ago.
The new Women and Children’s Hospital at Woden opened in 2012 and problems have persisted.
Several doctors have told the ABC staff relations at the hospital have deteriorated to the point where patient care has suffered.
The hospital has been given a six-month accreditation by The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZOG) to deal with the issues.
If it fails an assessment next year, the hospital will be stripped of its teaching credentials.
ACT Health director-general Peggy Brown said her department had been on the front foot to try to fix the situation.,
“We actually went to RANZOG before they came for their visit and said ‘we have got some problems here’,” she said.
“We’re not trying to hide it, we went to them and said we need your honest appraisal about where things stand and what we need to do.
“We’re working in partnership with the college to make sure we address those recommendations.”
It is believed leaked extracts from a report by RANZOG show the maternity unit failed to meet standards in two of eight assessment areas and another three areas were only “partially met”.
Dr Brown said the hospital had recruited for next year’s registrars and that change may help ease tensions.
“There has been an extended HR process to gather evidence in relation to the allegations that were made,” she said.
“We have recently had a resignation from a staff member and I’m sure the issue will be resolved so that it won’t be an ongoing problem.”
But Dr Brown said the full report would not be released to the public.
“You want to do these surveys in an atmosphere of trust and openness,” she said.
“As soon as you start putting something out into the public domain, people start modifying either what they say or what they write and we don’t get the best result.”
Dr Brown said she was disappointed the report had been leaked.
“It doesn’t seem to serve any purpose other than to seemingly, to me, undermine the efforts that everyone is making,” she said.