A Canberra surgeon who says he was pushed out of the public system for calling out internal problems has called for a judicial inquiry into bullying within ACT's healthcare system.
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Dr Maurice Mulcahy - a urologist who now practices privately- said he had witnessed bullying and harassment within Canberra's public hospitals which was putting patients' lives at risk and making the ACT an unattractive place to work.
He says his contract was not renewed after decades of service to public health system in the ACT after he made repeated calls for improvements in training and culture within the urology department and more broadly at Canberra Hospital.
ACT Health was asked by The Canberra Times why Dr Mulcahy's contract was not extended when there was a shortage of urologists and long public wait lists, however the question was ignored.
It comes amid calls from the opposition to launch a full inquiry into bullying within ACT Health, dismissed by the government as a political stunt.
Dr Mulcahy said most staff would not feel free to report behaviour under the current procedures for fear of the repercussions.
The Canberra Times has spoken to dozens of ACT Health employees who have also made similar claims about the culture in ACT Health.
Dr Mulcahy worked as a visiting medical officer in urology at Canberra and Calvary public hospitals from 1992 until his contract was not renewed in May 2016.
In a number of letters seen by The Canberra Times, he wrote to heads of ACT Health and ministers about concerns within the urology unit and more broadly between 2014 - when Katy Gallagher was health minister - to as recently as last year when he wrote to Chief Minister Andrew Barr.
He said he was threatened with fraud allegations and executives tried to "manage him out" before his contract was ultimately not extended.
The urology department lost its teaching accreditation in 2015 due to concerns including bullying and failures in training.
He said he warned hospital bosses at a number of meetings and through formal letters the department was not training registrars properly and would lose its teaching accreditation.
Dr Mulcahy alleges that junior doctors at Canberra Hospital will often be unfairly blamed for mistakes and were not given adequate training or teaching hours.
He said young female doctors were especially targeted by administration and a lack of supervision of registrars led to bad outcomes for patients and difficulties in recruitment.
"People are being driven out of the system," he said.
He said there was no effort made to try to change the culture within the urology department after it was stripped of its teaching accreditation in 2015 by board of urology.
Dr Mulcahy said there was also pressure on young doctors to place surgery waiting list patients down as category two when they should actually be category one patients.
"If a nurse complains about something they observe her for two or three weeks then take notes and say she did the wrong thing and create false evidence," he said.
"Unfortunately the nurses begin to question their own procedures and feel inadequate and are managed out in that way."
At the time Dr Mulcahy's contract ended he said there were long public waiting lists to see a urologist and he saw a large chunk of the ACT's urology patients.
He was given five days notice his contract would not be renewed after 24 years continued service.
“It's difficult to understand why ACT Health would want to remove a competent urologist with this sort of workload when he is working hard giving a considerable amount of time to the public system," he said.
“It is unfortunate that after almost 25 years of continuous [visiting medical officer] urological services to the public of Canberra, they chose not to renew my contract primarily because they wish to bully and harass me out of the system so that I will not be attempting to improve the outcome for patients.
"I still have doctors and nurses from that hospital telling me they are being bullied or harassed."
Data previously obtained by The Canberra Times showed that patients in the ACT can wait up to five years just to see a urologist, before they are even placed on a waiting list.
Dr Mulcahy believes administration did not like that he would see a lot of out-patients, which would reduce the waiting list to see a specialist but add to the surgery waiting list times.
He believes the only way people will feel free to speak out is if it is protected under a royal commission-like inquiry, which he had previously called for via letters to administrators and politicians.
Now free to complain as he works privately he said he wanted to speak out for the employees of ACT Health currently suffering and to improve patient outcomes.
ACT Health did not answer why Dr Mulcahy's contract was not extended in a time of shortages, simply stating it was not extended.
The spokeswoman said Dr Mulcahy's letters and complaints were investigated.
"ACT Health has a zero tolerance for inappropriate behaviour in the workplace, and there are well established processes in place for staff to raise concerns," she said.
"With the work underway to become reaccredited by the Australian Council on Health Care Standards earlier this year, there has been a significant focus on improving the way staff can raise issues, how they can work more collaboratively to get the best outcomes for patients and ensure ACT Health is a great place to work.
"As the transition to two organisations occurs we will continue to drive these positive changes in culture."
