Updated
The second major water leak in the space of three months at Perth’s Fiona Stanley Hospital may not be the last, Western Australia’s Health Minister says, as patients and staff endured a night without hot water and central heating.
An inspection of the building’s water infrastructure began on Saturday night with the maintenance work expected to last until mid-morning.
Parts of the hospital have been closed and others disrupted during the works.
Surgery has been cancelled and ambulances are being diverted except in serious emergency cases.
The WA Health Department said the emergency department would be open for walk-in patients.
Health Minister Kim Hames said the Government was not to blame.
“This is an issue of construction and manufacture, it isn’t an issue that’s been caused or affected or could’ve been prevented in any way by the Government, unlike claims by the Opposition,” he said.
Dr Hames said maintenance was being conducted on a pipe system which leaked in April.
He said this involved the replacement of an expansion joint in the piping system known as a bellow.
“That is going to be replaced again; a temporary fix was done before, but there is still some leakage,” Dr Hames said.
“At the same time they are replacing another one that’s near that, just for convenience because it’s tucked right in behind it; you’ve got to remove the first one to get to the second one.
“It was difficult to get an exact match so they’re going to redo that one.”
Dr Hames said a bellow which failed this week, causing the hospital’s emergency department to shut, the second failure in three months, had already been successfully replaced.
“The one that went two days ago, that was a perfect fit so they’re quite satisfied with that one,” he said.
“What’s more disturbing is the inconvenience to patients and what we’re having to do to fix the problem that’s there.
“We’re not sure what the future holds in terms of other bellows within the hospital and how that will be managed.
“It’s not really possible to go and fully assess them because the problems that occurred were on the inside.
“It may be that they all have to be replaced.”
Legal action to be taken against builder or manufacturer
Dr Hames said he had been asking various questions about the bellows, with little success so far, but hoped the Health Department would get some answers at a meeting with builder Brookfield Multiplex on Tuesday.
“Where did they come from, who manufactured it, are they from Western Australia or overseas, who’s responsible for them?” he said.
“And the answer is we don’t know all those things yet, and that’s what they’ll be discussing at the meeting on Tuesday.”
To say that we’re sending the blankets around, it’s a joke, it needs to be fixed in the long term.
Dr Michael Gannon, Australian Medical Association
While the cost is covered by insurance, the Minister expects legal action will be taken against the builder or the manufacturer.
During the night and into the morning, extra rugs and heaters will be provided to patients at the hospital as needed.
The Australian Medical Association’s WA president Michael Gannon said it is an unacceptable situation.
“I didn’t think I’d hear anything like this; this is substandard care, this is something you might expect in the developing world,” he said.
“To say that we’re sending the blankets around, it’s a joke, it needs to be fixed in the long term.”
Dr Gannon said it shed light on the decision to keep Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) open.
“We’ve supported the Government many times over the journey for doing that, but what they’re duty-bound to do now is to find the money to redevelop it,” he said.
“We need to seriously look at capacity in the system, we need to seriously look at whether an extra 50 beds at Royal Perth Hospital lying fallow need to be opened.
“The number one priority of this Government should be the redevelopment of RPH.
“It’s disappeared out of the forward estimates – it’s at least three to five years away – but this latest crisis must put that at the top of their list of priorities.”
Government failed to upgrade Royal Perth Hospital: Nursing Federation
Australian Nursing Federation secretary Mark Olson agreed the Government needed to sort out the problems at both Perth hospitals.
“What an extraordinary situation to have no hot showers in the flagship hospital in the southern hemisphere,” Mr Olson said.
“They made a commitment to not only save Royal Perth Hospital but to upgrade it. And they’ve failed on both counts.
“They rapidly shut down Fremantle Hospital, they’ve allowed Royal Perth to fall into a state of disrepair, so they’ve got no other options but to put all their eggs into the Fiona Stanley basket.
“Anybody could’ve told the Government there were going to be teething problems with any new hospital and it was ill-advised for them to allow Royal Perth to fall into such a state that it has.
“And now they need it, and they will be needing it as they sort out these problems at Fiona Stanley.”
Mr Olson said despite the series of issues at Fiona Stanley Hospital, morale among nurses was high.
“Morale is holding up because most of the staff are excited about working in a new hospital and they just want to make it work,” he said.
“There’s no problem with enthusiasm of the staff right now and many staff have told me that they just want to get in there and make it happen in this new hospital.
“They’re really excited about some of the new facilities and some of the new systems, just a little bit disappointed that they’re being let down by some of the infrastructure.”