Parliamentary inquiry to be held into chemotherapy bungle at Royal Adelaide Hospital

THE bungling of chemotherapy treatment by SA Health staff is set to be examined by a parliamentary inquiry, following calls from an affected patient.

ambulances

THE bungling of chemotherapy treatment by SA Health staff is set to be examined by a parliamentary inquiry, following calls from an affected patient.

The Opposition and independent MP John Darley have joined together to draft terms of reference for an inquiry and will put them to MPs when Parliament resumes next week.

Affected patient Andrew Knox, a former advertising agency owner and industrial advocate, was admitted to Flinders Medical Centre and given half the chemotherapy he should have had two days after a mistake was uncovered at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

Mr Knox, 67, has previously told The Advertiser that when the mistake was discovered, it was “covered up” so the RAH failed to alert FMC.

Mr Knox today said that a parliamentary inquiry was necessary to examine exactly what went wrong, the long-term effect of administering the wrong chemotherapy dose and “most importantly, the conduct of the department after it went wrong”.

“Hopefully an inquiry will stop that happening in the future so there’s not a repeat of this cavalier dismissal of an error which, in our case, is potentially terminal,” he said.

Mr Knox said that, at the time the error was discovered, it was not entered as an incident in a SA Health safety system.

“Had they done that ... it would have automatically triggered alerts to the minister, the chief executive and every department head.

“Therefore I would not have been underdosed the second time around.

“They (health authorities) should meet with me and they should look me in the eye and say ‘Look, this is what we intended to do, this is why we intended to do it, and this is where we went wrong, and then we covered it up’.

“I think the only way they can be called to account is to be put in front of an inquiry that compels them to tell the truth.”

Mr Knox said he had not received support promised by Health Minister Jack Snelling and SA Health.

“There has never been support, I have received not a cent in payment or reimbursement, there’s no case management,” he told The Advertiser.

Mr Snelling said he was “certainly concerned” if Mr Knox had not received support.

“We had a full and open and transparent inquiry into this (case),” Mr Snelling said, referring to an independent review by Professor Villis Marshall.

“That review was absolutely scathing of the clinicians that were involved. I’ve been very clear about my disappointment and my anger about what has happened.”

Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said an inquiry would look “particularly (at) the constraints that SA Health puts on people” when errors occur.

“There was a lot of public concern about the victims of the chemotherapy bungle being effectively gagged,” he said.

“We think that health service providers, their primary responsibility is to care for their patients and that doesn’t stop when things go wrong.

“The must make sure that the health of the patients is restored and the distress of being a victim of an error is minimised.”

Mr Wade said the inquiry could also consider the early acknowledgment of an error by health authorities and the issuing of an apology as early as possible.

He said a new committee could be established or the issue could be put before the existing Legislative Review Committee.