Canberra Hospital cardiology department staff report screaming, kicking doors and throwing objects

Workers in the department provided feedback about a lack of respect displayed by some doctors in the department and communications between some consultants during meetings were often heated.

Staff members also reported some doctors who were rostered on for duty in the department were often not actually in the hospital and would not always answer their phones.

There were also reports of multiple and recurrent breaches of recommended safety protocols within a lab in the department.

The feedback was outlined in a presentation given to some senior executives at Canberra Health Services and some staff within the cardiology department in November 2021.

Canberra Health Services has recently cracked down on behaviour in the cardiology department, with some senior staff stood down over serious bullying allegations.

The staff members were stood down after Canberra Health Services engaged a law firm to investigate the allegations of misconduct. The department has since undergone a major shake-up in its leadership team.

In an email seen by The Canberra Times, the staff were stood down for allegedly consistent bullying of trainees, nurses, allied health and administrations teams for, in some cases, more than a decade.

But recently-released documents have revealed the extent of the alleged behaviour.

The documents, released under freedom of information, show Canberra Health Services had previously conducted a review into the cardiology department in 2020.

That review found there was a widespread culture of blame within the department, multiple patient safety issues and poor clinical governance.

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Findings from this review were part of the presentation given to staff in November. This was alongside comments provided from cardiology staff about the culture within the department.

One comment was: "A number of doctors say inappropriate things and raise their voice."

Another said: "A number of the doctors are very difficult to deal with."

Following the presentation, Canberra Health Services employed consultants to undertake an independent investigation of the cardiology department. This investigation was led by former Fair Work commissioner Barbara Deegan.

Ms Deegan is also leading an inquiry into working conditions at the Dhulwa Mental Health Unit, after nurses reported more than 100 physical assaults over a six-month period.

Freedom of information documents also revealed that Ms Deegan is also undertaking a separate investigation into problems at Canberra Hospital's intensive care unit.

A recent workplace survey from Canberra Health Services, indicated that staff in intensive care had concerns over a toxic work environment, senior medical staff being abusive to nurses and junior medical staff, favouritism and racism.

Canberra Health Services chief executive Dave Peffer publicly put staff on notice last November, issuing a stern warning the organisation would part ways with staff who had exhibited consistently poor behaviour.

Mr Peffer said in a statement he expected to see a resolution to some of the culture matters within weeks.

"We've been clear that to turn the culture around we had to follow through on recruiting, rewarding and removing in line with our values. We're not backing that up with more words, we're backing it up with action," Mr Peffer said.

Mr Peffer said Canberra Health Services was fortunate to have committed staff delivering high quality and safe care; he thanked them for coming forward as part of the review.

"We stand ready to implement recommended changes to improve systems and processes within the two clinical areas, too," he said.

The Canberra Times understands several senior staff across multiple departments have been let go over the past six months.

Culture at the Canberra Hospital has been under a microscope for the past three years after a damning review found troubling levels of mistrust and bullying within the public health system.

The ACT government has embarked on wide-ranging reforms to improve the culture at the hospital.

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