‘Deeply distressed’: PA boss to probe shock patient allegations

The head of the PA Hospital says he is deeply distressed following claims from whistleblowers about treatment at the hospital’s spinal injury unit – saying the allegations are confronting.

• Shock allegations against spinal unit

The boss of the Princess Alexandra Hospital says he is ­deeply distressed amid whistleblower claims of degrading treatment of patients at the hospital’s spinal injury unit – describing the allegations as “confronting”.

And the renowned doctor who was first to blow the whistle – 2021 Queenslander of the Year, Dinesh Palipana – has doubled down on his concerns about treatment in the ward, saying he felt “unsafe”.

Dr Jeremy Wellwood, who is the PA Hospital’s executive director, has now urged patients to come forward if they have concerns they want to share.

It came after The Courier-Mail exposed claims of paralysed patients who had been left to lie in their own faeces and sit naked in front of other patients.

Princess Alexandra Hospital Executive Director Jeremy Wellwood who spoke today after The Courier-Mail’s story of patient treatment in the Spinal care ward.

In an explosive report yesterday, the paper revealed Dr Palipana was willing to accept serious professional risk to publicly declare he had grave concerns about safety in the unit.

Another past patient alleged they had been treated roughly and felt they had not been given any respect during bowel therapy.

Dr Wellwood on Saturday described the allegations as “very serious”, saying the hospital would like patients to come forward as they investigate the claims.

“The new concerns that we have been made aware of yesterday are really very specific concerns,” he said.

“They are quite confronting and really we will be taking this very seriously and looking into it. But ... we do need to have people that have those particular concerns to come to us.

“I’m a clinician.

“This is deeply distressing for myself and our staff to hear about these things.”

Dinesh Palipana, emergency department doctor, lawyer, researcher and disability advocate who has quadriplegia. Photographer: David Kelly

Dr Palipana – who is an emergency doctor – was among the former patients who had alleged poor treatment at the PA Hospital when talking to The Courier-Mail.

Speaking again on Saturday, Dr Palipana – who was a patient at the unit in 2010 – said he had been left naked and had laid in his own faeces.

“I’ve had all this happen. I felt unsafe,” he told Nine News.

Dr Wellwood said he had reached out to Dr Palipana – describing him as a “fantastic advocate” for people with spinal injuries.

Asked about claims from a whistleblower who said their naked body was exposed to other patients, Dr Wellwood said: “I think one of the things that we see with patients with a spinal injury is that it is the case that you do lose that sense of privacy and that can make you feel like you’ve lost your sense of dignity.”

Dr Wellwood said the hospital had been working with patients, family and staff in the past couple of months, with a program of work under way to improve care.

He also said the hospital was putting on additional staff.