Serco has been stripped of responsibility for sterilisation services at Perth’s Fiona Stanley Hospital because of delays in returning clean medical equipment to operating theatres.
The hospital was this week forced to bring in extra staff from WA Health to take the lead from the non-clinical services provider for as “long as it takes”, and ensure surgeons had equipment on time.
Doctors at the hospital told the ABC the delays had been so bad they had to cancel or delay patient operations, with implications for patient safety.
Delays were also being caused by the Serco-run system used to call a porter to transfer patients from one part of the hospital to another.
There had been instances where exasperated doctors had given up waiting for the porters to arrive and resorted to going to the wards and picking up patients themselves.
Australian Medical Association WA president Michael Gannon said there would always be difficulties in setting up a new hospital but “delays which compromise patients’ care aren’t good enough”.
“We can’t have delays that are unsafe for patients. It needs to be fixed quickly,” he said.
Under its contract with WA Health, Serco – a UK conglomerate that also runs prisons and provides security in detention centres – must sterilise medical equipment and return it within 24 hours, or three hours for emergencies.
However, Fiona Stanley Hospital chief executive David Russell-Weisz said sterilised equipment was not being delivered on time to theatres.
“We recognise that sterilisation, which is one of the 25 services that Serco deliver for the hospital, is under significant strain,” he said.
“And therefore we’ve taken remedial action, which is to bring in some additional WA Health expertise and staff and to work alongside Serco and lead them for as long as it takes.”
A spokeswoman for the hospital said this could last six to eight weeks.
Serco was contacted for comment but said Mr Russell-Weisz would respond on its behalf.
On its website, Serco says its sterilisation service “aims to be one of the most advanced in the country”.
“The service will include improved infection control measures and an Australian-first automated system which will process approximately 300,000 individual surgical instruments each year”, the website said.
Fewer operations due to delays
The AMA said Serco’s delays were affecting the number of operations that could be performed.
“Certainly, there are delays in getting the surgery done, which means less surgery is getting done in the allotted time,” Dr Gannon said.
Mr Russell-Weisz said there was a “bedding-in period” with a new hospital but he was not belittling the problem.
“It will cause some delays,” he said.
“There’s no doubt about that but we want to be absolutely clear that we have the right equipment before you do surgery on a patient. That is safe patient care.”
Doctors were concerned patient care was also being jeopardised by the long waits for porters.
“It’s a new system and this is unique in our health system now having services like the orderlies being managed differently and not being employed directly by the hospital,” Dr Gannon said.
“There’s many people who think this is a bad idea and will point to this as evidence of that.”
Mr Russell-Weisz said Serco was increasing the number of staff it had in portering, especially in specific areas like the emergency department and imaging.
He agreed it was a waste of time and resources for doctors to be forced to transfer patients themselves.
“Clinical staff shouldn’t be doing that, whether they’re doctors, nurses or allied health and is a responsibility of Serco and Serco have to deliver,” he said.