Premier Steven Marshall admits public confidence in SA Health has taken a hit after COVID-19 patient email bungle
Premier Steven Marshall says public confidence in SA Health has taken a hit after this week’s email bungle that allowed a UK woman with COVID-19 to arrive in Adelaide unannounced – and vowed it won’t be repeated.
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Premier Steven Marshall has conceded confidence in SA Health has taken a hit as a result of a bungle this week that allowed a UK woman with COVID-19 to arrive in SA from Victoria unannounced.
“I think so,” the Premier told ABC Radio on Friday.
“I think in this instance there has been a lot of analysis and there should be a lot of analysis because we can’t afford to allow something like this to occur again.
“But I think there has been a very high level of confidence in SA Health. I don’t think there’s any other public health administration anywhere in the world that I would rather have than the one we have here.”
Mr Marshall acknowledged the bungle “could have been very serious if this person wasn’t picked up”.
“That’s why yesterday (Thursday) I spoke to the police commissioner and said I would prefer if we didn’t grant any further exemptions for people coming in South Australia for compassionate reasons until he has absolute full confidence, we have absolute full confidence, that we have a robust and airtight system,” he said.
“This was an administrative error at the front end. It won’t happen again.”
Mr Marshall dismissed rumours the woman had influence and was given special treatment in being granted an exemption.
“I have every confidence that there’s no way that that would have occurred with SAPOL or with SA Health,” he said.
“And from a political perspective we don’t even see the names of the people, it’s just not something we have any involvement in whatsoever.”
SA Health officials apologised to Victoria and will now pick up the phone to check arrangements for travel exemptions, after a missed email allowed a British woman to fly into Adelaide unannounced.
Red-faced officials have also slapped a ban on compassionate exemptions for international arrivals, after the woman tested positive for COVID-19.
People interstate can still apply for exemptions.
Chief public health officer Nicola Spurrier was forced to backtrack after initially blaming Victoria for the bungle.
SA Health later blamed an overload of emails for missing the crucial one, which resulted in it pointing the finger at Victoria.
The email advising of the woman’s arrival date was found today in a special exemptions inbox supposedly monitored 24/7.
Prof Spurrier, who said she was too busy responding to the pandemic “to feel embarrassed”, has apologised to her Victorian counterparts.
SA Health first missed the email with Sunday’s arrival details, which was sent a day earlier then overlooked it again when it held a review on Wednesday night into what went wrong.
Officials finally found it after blaming the Victorians, who quickly produced it at a media conference.
On a day when there were no new cases of coronavirus – and officials would normally be jubilant – health and political leaders also dealt with fallout over backflips on dining and pub rules, anger from dance studios about class numbers, crowded public transport and pressure to open borders.
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Prof Spurrier will urge all chief public health officers around Australia to use phones in such cases to avoid a repeat, saying the volume of emails was behind the oversight.
“Many people will appreciate it is easy to overlook an email,” she said, saying she would now urge officer-to-officer phone checks, including after hours by mobile.
“I looked at the email trail that I’d been provided with and it did look as though we hadn’t received that information, that bit of crucial information about the day this person arrived,” she said.
“Subsequently, we have spoken to Victoria and they did send an earlier email and I do apologise to Victorians in that regard. It has been an oversight from our department
“We really need to review our processes. What’s really clear is we should not be relying on email information for something this important.”
Police Commissioner Grant Stevens met SA Health chief Dr Chris McGowan late Thursday to discuss ways to improve procedures.
This does not include interstate travellers, who would need to self-isolate when not seeing their relative or attending a funeral.
The British woman had completed only half the usual two-week quarantine period in Victoria before being allowed to fly to Adelaide.
“We need a robust and airtight system before we let any more people in from overseas,” Mr Marshall said.
“Clearly the airline didn’t know and we didn’t have police ready to implement our system.”
Prof Spurrier stood by the exemption decision, saying: “We have to have a heart.”
The woman has not been able to visit her terminally ill father. Prof Spurrier acknowledged Victoria and NSW had handled most Australians returning from overseas.
“I do apologise ... the last thing I want to do is kick a Vic,” she said.