The Australian Nursing Federation has stepped up its criticism of Fiona Stanley Hospital, claiming patients are being put at risk because of short-staffing across the facility.
The allegations were made in a submission by the federation, signed by state secretary Mark Olson, to the parliamentary inquiry examining the hospital.
The submission alleged there was inadequate staffing levels in departments including emergency, maternity, oncology and the stroke ward at the $2 billion health facility.
“These shortages have meant patients have been deprived of what nurses describe as the basics, such as going without a wash, and not having soiled bed sheets and gowns changed in a timely fashion,” it said.
“[That leaves] patients to suffer the indignity of lying longer than they should in dried faeces, blood and urine.”
The submission also claimed newborn babies were being put at risk by being admitted to the general paediatric ward alongside infants with conditions such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and whooping cough.
“We believe this was to save money on having more nurses,” the federation said.
“However, this is a potentially lethal cost-saving measure. As nurses have said, a two-day-old next door to a baby with RSV is a recipe for disaster.”
In a statement, a spokesman for Acting Health Minister John Day said the Government would consider the committee’s recommendations once its report was tabled in Parliament.
“The Government has also commissioned its own independent review of Fiona Stanley’s clinical services and patient care by a team of highly regarded advisers, led by the clinical director of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare, Dr Robert Herkes,” the statement said.
Operator defends hospital transition
Concerns about understaffing, poor communication and bad planning at the hospital were also raised in a submission to the inquiry by the Health Services Union.
The union surveyed 650 of its members in April and May this year, 555 of whom worked at Metropolitan Health Services.
It said nearly 70 per cent of members surveyed believed the transition to Fiona Stanley had been badly managed, and more than 60 per cent believed patient care had been compromised.
In its submission to the inquiry, the private operator of non-clinical services at the hospital, Serco, defended its handling of its multi-billion-dollar contract.
“The Serco contract provides for a much higher degree of monitoring and accountability than is available in other WA hospitals, setting standards typically well in excess of what is being achieved elsewhere in the health system,” the operator said.
“Serco is able to clearly demonstrate how it developed safe and effective services through the implementation of a complex pre-operational program of work.”
Serco came under fire earlier this year after problems with the sterilisation of medical equipment led to the Health Department stripping the company of the service.