Former Queensland Health exec reveals he resigned from $35m RIVeR project in 2019 over his concerns

It’s the $35 million Far North Queensland e-health project that’s been plagued with problems since rollout began last year. Now a former Queensland Health executive has revealed he resigned from the project in 2019 after raising his concerns.

Doctor.

A FORMER Queensland Health executive says he resigned from the project to develop a $35m e-health record in 2019 because he believed it was “no longer in a position to achieve its original objectives”.

The program, known as RIVeR, is now nine months into a rollout across a total 28 sites, and has been heavily criticised by the Together Queensland Union and the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union.

The original intention of RIVeR was to create a single electronic patient medical record system accessible in 58 primary, community and hospital settings from the Torres Strait to the Cassowary Coast.

Some doctors have refused to use the program because of its “substantial safety risks” to patients.

Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service chief executive Beverley Hamerton has previously defended the program, saying her health service was “confident the RIVeR system is fit for purpose as a multidisciplinary primary health care record system” and that it was not compromising patient safety.

Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service chief executive Beverley Hamerton.

But David Bullock, who joined the TCHHS as chief information officer in September 2018, has revealed he resigned as senior responsible officer of RIVeR in 2019 because he did not believe the system would ever achieve its objectives.

In a recent post on LinkedIn, Mr Bullock said he wished to “publicly disassociate myself and my professional standing from this project”.

Mr Bullock said that after 15 months working on the project, “and having provided significant support to resetting the project to a more meaningful and manageable state”, he resigned as senior responsible officer in late 2019.

More than $20 million was spent on the program before the original successful tenderer, ISA Healthcare Solutions, was ditched by Queensland Health.

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“Reasons for my resignation were many, inclusive of but not limited to, my belief that having conducted a reset, the project was no longer in a position to achieve its original objectives, and any continuation without additional funds would be akin to ‘making something fit’,” he wrote.

Mr Bullock said his advice to Queensland Health was twofold: firstly, to return the funds to the Federal Government, go back to the start, and “win the right and necessary resources”, and secondly, to go out to open tender to find which, if any company “could provide a clinically safe, efficient and effective system within the project scope”.

“The path followed did not align with my personal values and standards, thus I resigned.

“The TCHHS digital support teams continue to achieve amazing outcomes in trying and difficult environments and (they) along with TCHHS clinicians and patients deserve a system which is contemporary, clinically safe and usable at point (of) implementation,” he said.

The RIVeR system was eventually rolled out in partnership with Telstra Health and its Communicare platform.

Ms Hamerton said “significant progress” had occurred with RIVeR since the partnership with Telstra Health began in 2019.

Sandy Donald is the Together Queensland Union vice-president.

Together Queensland Union senior vice president Dr Sandy Donald said his members were concerned by Ms Hamerton’s statements that “patient safety has not been compromised”.

“Inability to access patient records, prescriptions stopping without notice, test results not being seen, and the substantial reduction in the number of patients that can be seen all seem to contradict that statement,” he said.

“They are also offended at the suggestion that they were listened to during the roll out.”

Dr Donald said clinicians were at times allowed to express opinions or point out flaws, “but could see no evidence that anyone actually took any notice”.

“Clinicians who were closely involved and very supportive initially report much the same inability to influence the outcome

“It’s almost as if the management and clinicians are working with two separate (and incompatible) sets of facts.”

Dr Donald said he understood that Queensland Health eHealth was now conducting a review of RIVeR and the process “by which we reached this point”.

“Members are hopeful that a clear-eyed expert review will acknowledge that Communicare does not do what health workers and the people they care for need from an electronic medical record.”

Originally published as Former Queensland Health exec reveals he resigned from $35m RIVeR project in 2019 over his concerns