Royal Adelaide Hospital stroke specialist roster scandal caused ‘scary’ patient situation, inquest told
A ROSTERING blunder at the state’s top hospital that allowed two highly trained stroke specialists to take holidays simultaneously was a “scary” situation for patients, an inquest has heard.
- Scandal deepens: Specialist wasn’t on call — but was fishing
- SA Coroner questions ‘too casual culture of medical administration’
- Stroke doctors don’t get on, earn $1.1 million
- Fatal stroke doctor rostering ‘an error’
A ROSTERING blunder at the state’s top hospital that allowed two highly trained stroke specialists to take holidays simultaneously was a “scary” situation for patients, an inquest has heard.
Radiologists Dr James Taylor and Dr Rebecca Scroop were both on personal leave in April when Royal Adelaide Hospital stroke patients Michael John Russell, 60, and Leslie Robert Graham, 87, died.
A colleague told the Coroners Court on Monday that not having either senior Interventional Neuro-Radiology (INR) specialist on duty had created a “scary” patient scenario.
The hospital’s stroke resident medical officer, Dr Jane Thompson, told the court that she had been concerned about the lack of specialists.
Asked by counsel assisting the coroner, Naomi Kereru, how she felt and how she was “coping” knowing there were no specialists readily available, Dr Thompson replied: “It was scary.”
“To have a patient in front of you who was awaiting an emergency procedure and not knowing whether you are going to have someone able to perform that (operation),” she said.
“I have not been in that situation.”
On Monday afternoon, stroke unit nurse Carole Hampton told the inquest it was “unusual” having the specialists both on leave.
Ms Hampton said she made an internal complaint to SA Health via the online Safety Learning System because it was a “serious” incident not to have adequate INR coverage.
She categorised the complaint at the highest level, meaning it was going to be automatically investigated.
A review of the neuro-interventional radiology service had called for the third specialist to be employed in 2013, four years before the pair died.
State Coroner Mark Johns is urgently investigating the deaths after The Advertiser revealed the roster scandal, which was in breach of internal guidelines and meant the patients failed to receive urgent and vital medical attention.
The court has heard Dr Scroop was flying to America while Dr Taylor was three hours away on a fishing holiday near Victor Harbor despite being “on call” and able to “scrub in” at short notice.
Their boss Dr Jim Buckley last week told the inquest the rostering blunder was an “error” while Mr Johns has questioned the hospital’s “casual” approach to health administration.
An internal SA Health review found there had been “longstanding, territorial” issues between the three stroke specialists employed by SA Medical Imaging — Dr Taylor, Dr Scroop and Dr Chryssidis.
The court has heard the RAH specialists who covered a 24-hour roster may have been resisting assistance to “protect their patch” because they were earning more than $1.1 million a year.
Dr Thompson told the court that she had reported the incident to her superiors and said the incident should have been immediately reported to Mr Johns.
Mr Graham’s death on April 26 was only formally reported almost three weeks later — only after it was revealed by The Advertiser — which also meant no post-mortem examination was completed.
While Mr Russell’s death on April 21 was reported to the Coroner, no mention was made of “staffing issues” so no autopsy was undertaken, the inquest has heard. It was now too late for such procedures.
Dr Thompson said that it was best practice to have RAH surgeons and specialists treat patients as they knew internal procedures and equipment.
“I felt that on this occasion we were very lucky we were able to secure an interventionist outside of our normal roster to perform the procedure in an acceptable time frame,” she said.
Dr Taylor, Dr Scroop and Dr Chryssidis will give evidence later.
The inquest continues.
