Flinders Medical Centre follows Women’s and Children’s Hospital in failing its accreditation review

SA Health has another major hospital with accreditation problems as a Flinders Medical Centre unit joins two at the Women’s and Children’s in the “must do better” rankings.

Another major public hospital has had a key department fail its teaching accreditation review, only being granted provisional credentials until it has another check.

Flinders Medical Centre’s Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit underwent an accreditation visit by the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and only received provisional training accreditation for six months.

A review is planned for May 2023, and a progress report is due in February.

South Adelaide Local Health Network acting chief executive Dr Diana Lawrence. Picture: Matt Loxton

The department took a lead role in handling mothers and expectant women with Covid, adding to workload pressures.

The downgrade to provisional ranking comes after The Advertiser revealed the Women’s and Children’s Paediatric Intensive Care Unit failed its accreditation test in November, while WCH Neonatal Intensive Care Unit only achieved a provisional pass.

Both are undergoing overhauls with the intention they regain their full accreditation status at subsequent checks due later in 2023.

South Adelaide Local Health Network (SALHN) acting chief executive Dr Diana Lawrence said the FMC Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit provides high quality, safe care to women and their babies in the southern Adelaide region.

However, despite a request by The Advertiser, SA Health declined to specify what issues had led to the downgrade.

“We welcome the RANZCOG review and recommendations that will strengthen training for our obstetrics and gynaecology service,” Dr Lawrence said in a statement to The Advertiser.

“All accreditations provide an opportunity to review and improve services and training for doctors.”

Flinders Medical Centre follows Women’s and Children’s hospital with accreditation problems.

Dr Lawrence noted since May 2022, SALHN has taken multiple significant steps to enhance the obstetrics and gynaecology service, including hiring four additional obstetricians and five additional trainee medical officers.

“SALHN has also commissioned a review of the obstetrics and gynaecology service which is underway,” she said.

“This is to make certain we have contemporary governance in place to deliver a high-quality safe service that also provides excellent training and support for all doctors and clinicians who work in the service.

“The review is part of a Continuous Improvement Project aimed at enhancing the delivery of person and family centred care, and staff and consumer experience.”

Dr Lawrence added that the unit plays an important role in training the future workforce — however, full accreditation is needed for such training to count towards promotions.

Multiple problems at the WCH paediatric ICU were revealed in a scathing letter from the College of Intensive Care Medicine obtained by The Advertiser including that there were times no doctor was in the unit as they were doing duties elsewhere in the hospital — a longstanding practice that has since been stopped.

Loss of accreditation means time spent in a unit by young doctors does not count towards their training, however in the WCH case it has been confirmed current trainees and the 2023 registrars who have endorsed positions will have their time working in the paediatric ICU count towards their training to become a consultant.