Hospital board defends leadership after petition removed from website
Bundaberg Mayor Helen Blackburn's petition demanding the removal of Friendly Society Private Hospital's CEO and board has now been removed from change.org.
A petition launched by Bundaberg Mayor Helen Blackburn calling for the removal of the CEO and board members of the Friendly Society Private Hospital in Bundaberg has quietly disappeared.
The petition was launched on change.org last month after Ms Blackburn released a statement on Facebook which claimed she had disclosures from staff and health organisations which she believed represented “a systemic failure of leadership that threatens the hospital’s compliance with the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards, the Private Health Facilities Act, and workplace health and safety obligations”.
The CEO, board and hospital fiercely denied the claims and by Monday afternoon December 1, 2025 the petition had disappeared from change.org.
Ms Blackburn was contacted for comment but did not respond in time for publication.
There has also been expression of significant confidence in the CEO and board on behalf of multiple staff members and hospital teams.
Friendlies CEO Michelle Thompson said the petition had been removed by the publisher at the request of the hospital due to its content.
In the meantime, a letter has been revealed from September from the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland president and Australian Medical Professionals Society secretary Kara Thomas on behalf of some concerned staff at the hospital, and addressed to board chair Barry Dangerfield.
The concerns included claims of bed and ward closures, no pharmacists on weekends, and no admittance of acute general surgical or orthopaedic patients.
Ms Thomas requested in the letter dated September 12, 2025, that the board appoint an external investigator to examine credentialing governance, issue an interim moratorium on credentialing/list decisions unrelated to clinical safety concerns, and preserve evidence (theatre allocation records, HR files, staff turnover) for a period of 36 months.
Another letter, from the Bundaberg Medical Association, to the Friendlies in August also recently resurfaced, alleging visiting medical officers expressed a motion of no confidence in the CEO and board chairman.
Friendlies was contacted in relation to the two letters, and Mr Dangerfield said they had been considered by the board, but calls for an independent investigation were not warranted, especially since the hospital’s re-accreditation from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards.
“This independent assessment demonstrates that Friendlies fully complies with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care standards and validates the safe, quality health care we provide to the community,” he said.
“That speaks for itself.”
He said similar claims raised in the letters had also been raised with the Office of the Health Ombudsman and the Queensland Private Health Regulation Unit, yet neither identified a need for further action in response to the complaints.
Ms Thompson reiterated that no funded beds had been closed and that acute admissions against funded bed availability had to be fair and equal for all patients, and be based on clinical need.
She said the hospital’s pharmacy was run according to clinical demand and not retail expectations, responding to claims there were no pharmacists on the weekend.
“Our pharmacy hours are set according to clinical demand, which is why the service does not operate at retail-style weekend hours,” she said.
“This ensures safe, efficient delivery of hospital pharmacy care without diverting resources from where they matter.”
Mr Dangerfield revealed a $2.6m surplus had been achieved in the past year at the hospital’s annual general meeting on Monday, November 24, which had been reinvested into clinical and infrastructure upgrades.
Two weeks ago, a letter of support was submitted to the Friendlies board and chief executive on behalf of staff across 30 hospital teams.
It said an overwhelming majority of staff members had confidence in its leadership team and offered a unique, insider perspective on some of the frustrations and allegations being raised.
“We’re not pretending regional healthcare isn’t under strain,” the letter read.
“Bundaberg is dealing with the same issues affecting regional health across Australia - staff shortages, growing demand and pressure on both public and private services.
“We experience that every shift, but we also see things that aren’t obvious from the outside: leaders making decisions in an environment shaped by national and state-wide pressures.
“Clinical governance that we take seriously and participate in. Genuine work to maintain safe and continuous care.
“A long history of reinvestment back into Bundaberg, consistent with being a community-owned, not-for-profit hospital.
“A number of staff have said they feel unfairly judged by statements made publicly and it has left people feeling deflated and disheartened.
“Destabilising the hospital during a time when healthcare services everywhere are under pressure will not help the community we all care about.”
