A report into the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital reveals “mistakes” were made in a rush to get the facility open, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.
The full report, which will be publicly released this week, comes from an independent panel appointed by the Queensland Government to review the building and the November 2014 opening of the $1.5 billion hospital.
It followed months of complaints about cleaning and catering, IT systems, staffing, cancelled operations and bed capacity.
The report was today considered by State Cabinet, which met at Brisbane’s Ekka.
Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said Health Minister Cameron Dick would be releasing the full details.
“[From] initial reading, it’s quite concerning that measures were not put in place,” she said.
“I want to pay tribute to all of the staff that work at the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital. They work very hard.
“However, there have been some mistakes in terms of rushing to get it operational when it was opened.”
The ABC understands staff will be briefed on the findings on Thursday.
Another review earlier this year found there was confusion and dysfunction in the fortnight following the opening, including that staff were not adequately trained and some services were not in place.
Report a witch hunt: Lawrence Springborg
Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg has already branded the report a “witch hunt”, referring to the resignation of Children’s Health Board chairwoman Susan Johnston.
Ms Johnston has previously stood by the timing of the hospital’s opening, saying from a clinical safety point of view they did the right thing and moved when it was appropriate to do so.
“What we’re seeing here is a witch hunt and scapegoating,” Mr Springborg said.
“We’re seeing I think an outstanding woman who has left the service of the Queensland Government.”
Mr Springborg was health minister at the time the hospital opened.
“If you look at the start-up of the hospital on the day, it was done very, very well,” he said.
“We did our very best to make sure that this could be properly implemented through the hospital board.”
He said the independent panel had not contacted him or his staff.
“One would think as a part of any review that they should be actually speaking to the people who were involved in it, and they haven’t done that,” he said.
The Premier denied accusations of a witch hunt.