More than 1000 allegations of corruption made about SA Health
More than 1000 allegations of corruption have been lodged with ICAC over SA Health — while new allegations of management “falsifying records” have emerged.
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More than 1000 allegations of corruption have been levelled against SA Health but State Government secrecy laws mean The Advertiser can only report vague details of 54 cases.
Independent Commissioner against Corruption Bruce Lander has asked for resources to investigate SA Health, which is attracting almost 300 corruption complaints a year.
Mr Lander fears maladministration in the department is costing taxpayers millions through poor record-keeping, vague contracts and conflicts of interest but Treasurer Rob Lucas has refused a request for $2 million to fund eight staff to help complete an inquiry.
Mr Lucas noted ICAC had asked for extra money to “evaluate” SA Health rather than pursue specific allegations.
“If the commissioner has had 1000 allegations of corruption in SA Health then under the Act he is required to investigate each one and he is funded to do that,” Mr Lucas said.
“I’d be interested to see the results of those investigations.”
As Mr Lander considers his next move, an Advertiser investigation shows:
A TOTAL of 1075 complaints and reports about alleged corruption in SA Health were lodged with ICAC from September 2013 to June 30.
ONLY 54 have had details released, all relating to bullying.
FORTY of 70 submissions to a separate parliamentary inquiry into possible maladministration into SA Health have been declared “confidential”, with no information available even without naming the people involved.
AN SA Health staffer has made startling allegations of managers falsifying records, amending complaints of maladministration, or just throwing paper records of such complaints “in the bin”.
MULTIMILLION-DOLLAR annual supply deals being done on handshakes rather than contracts, as well as duplicate invoices being approved and invoices ticked off without checking goods were received.
The growing list of problems Mr Lander wants to “evaluate” in the Government’s biggest department follows an ICAC survey on public integrity.
This resulted in a quarter of more than 12,000 respondents identifying themselves as working for SA Health — and almost 60 per cent said they had encountered corruption or inappropriate conduct in the past five years.
Mr Lander’s call for financial support for a full ICAC inquiry into SA Health is backed by the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation. It follows an investigation by consultants KordaMentha into SA Health’s biggest branch, the 13,000 staff, $2 billion-a-year Central Adelaide Local Health Network, which produced a damning report and later saw the consultants appointed as administrators to rein in a deficit ballooning towards $300 million a year.
That investigation found “a systemic and widespread breakdown and lack of respect for financial control and performance accountability”.
The report uncovered dubious spending practices such as “contracts not established for some significant suppliers, including four suppliers with yearly spends in excess of $9 million”.
As reported by The Advertiser, KordaMentha subsequently found $112 million in payments made without proper approvals in CALHN, including $4 million for staff travel and scores of “ad hoc” payments for couriers, printing, freight, medical supplies and stationery.
While Health Minister Stephen Wade condemned the “exorbitant” spending with “no oversight and no accountability” of financial controls which were “almost non-existent”, so far no one has publicly been held to account for suspect payments.
The extent of corruption in SA Health remains difficult to assess without a full ICAC inquiry but a handful of public hearings have shone a spotlight on what may be the tip of an iceberg.
Parliamentary hearings have heard extraordinary allegations of corruption, including falsifying records. But in one inquiry now under way, 40 of 70 submissions have been listed as confidential so no details of the allegations have been released.
This parliamentary inquiry into bullying and fatigue in SA Health has heard allegations of widespread nepotism and retribution linked to bullying.
In one hearing, Ms Cherilyn Alport, a senior work, health and safety consultant with Country Health SA, accused management of falsifying records. She told the committee senior managers could amend written allegations of bullying and “just put it in the bin”.
Ms Alport, whose area covers the Yorke Peninsula and much of the Mid North, told the committee she “spoke with workers who did not feel safe in the workplace and did not always feel they were safe with their managers. This was also my experience”.
“In SA Health, we have poor harassment and bullying reporting processes, whereby managers see electronic reports by default and can edit contents before they are seen by anyone else, and paper reports can be filed straight into the bin,” she said.
Do you know something or have concerns about possible misconduct? Get in touch. Either call 8206 2300 or email brad.crouch@news.com.au or andrew.hough@news.com.au