Sacked Mackay Hospital board members speak out on dismissal by D’Ath
Booted board members at Mackay’s hospital have spoken out about their sensational sacking by the health Minister with one claiming some “appalling” outcomes for women “could have been prevented”.
Mackay
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Ousted board members at the centre of the Mackay Base Hospital storm have questioned the wisdom and fairness of the health minister’s decision to sensationally sack them.
It comes after Y’vette D’Ath dismissed all nine members in response to shocking failures at the hospital’s obstetrics and gynaecology department.
She’d previously backed the board but on Tuesday announced she didn’t believe they had the skill set needed to implement sweeping cultural change.
The board’s former deputy chair David Aprile, who served on the board for 10 years, said on Tuesday “in retrospect, over that period of time there could have been changes that prevented some of these things occurring”.
“There are instances where not everything gets lifted up to the level of the board … and in some cases that’s what happened,” Mr Aprile said
“Sadly, in some cases that didn’t occur, and I feel very disappointed in that.
“It’s appalling what’s happened to some of the people and my heart goes out to them.”
Asked whether he and other members had responded to the health minister’s previous show-cause notice as to why they shouldn’t be sacked, Mr Aprile said he had outlined “the qualities and the abilities of the board members and the way we felt we had dealt with the issues to the best of our ability”.
“We felt that it was a very cohesive board, made up of very talented people, all local, all dedicated to the local community,” he said
Mr Aprile, who according to the Mackay Hospital and Health Service Annual Report was taking home $52,000 a year for his role on the board (all other members recieved between $47,000 to $52,000 while the chair took home $93,000) in comparison to Ms D’Ath’s annual salary of about $300,000, would not be drawn on whether the health minister should retain her job.
“That’s up to the public to make an assessment of whether they consider what the Minister has done is the appropriate action,” he said.
“The public and the community will make their own decisions and that’s the way it should be.
“I am not going to discuss the politics of it … politics is politics, sometimes decisions are made in politics that not everyone agrees with, but that doesn’t mean that they are the wrong decision or the right decision.
“The community then wears the outcome of those decisions whether good or bad.
“I don’t know that I’d describe it as a fair or inequitable outcome, it’s probably more, for me, disappointing that we’re losing so much talent.”
Mr Aprile said hospital systems around the world were under “enormous pressure”.
“Day-to-day within our hospital service, there are people who work 24/7 365 days a year and provide a fantastic service to our community and we must not forget about those people,” he said.
“My only hope is (whatever) is put into place to run the hospital is that it supports the people that work within it.”
Darryl Camilleri, the city’s former deputy mayor and Mackay HHS board chair, said a feeling of disappointment reigned among the nine board members dismissed.
He would also not say whether the Minister had taken her share of responsibility for the failures at the hospital but believed a “community-based board” with “strong links to the community” was best positioned to lead the health service through this period of turmoil.
“I think a local based board would have more impact on moving the hospital service forward,” he said.
“We have got a fair feel for our community, members who have lived in it, part of the health system for some time.
“We understand what has gone on.”
Mr Camilleri confirmed the board disputed the show cause notice previously issued by the Minister.
“We felt that we had a cause to show, we thought we could deal with the issues she raised locally, and we said that,” he said.
“The issue was whether we could implement the recommendations of the investigation into maternity services in Mackay.
“There were 122 recommendations, and on the day of the release, 47 of them had been implemented, so we were quite confident we could implement all of those recommendations.”
Mr Camilleri also stressed the importance of stability in taking the hospital forward.
“It has been a pretty tough six months for the organisation and the staff and I did stress I felt stability of the board was very important going forward,” he said.
An administrator will now take over the service and it is likely a new board will be appointed in the long-term.
Dr Elissa Hatherly, a board member for more than three years, said responsibility for the failures at the hospital lay with “everyone”.
“The entire system needs to be overhauled,” she said.
“It is not just Mackay Base Hospital where these challenges are experienced. It is experienced across the entire state and it’s across the entire nation.”
Dr Hatherly said everyone, from patients to staff and doctors, needed to feel comfortable speaking up and reporting possible failures.
“The board unfortunately did not know about some of the failings within the hospital at the time,” she said.
She questioned the wisdom of sacking the board and said it could add an additional element of instability to the service.
“I don’t know that the sacking of the board will actually achieve what the Minister wants,” she said.
When pressed whether she believed Minister D’Ath had taken responsibility for the failures, Dr Hatherly said it was not useful to attribute blame to any single person and said healthcare needed to be “depoliticised”.
“Removing health from the political sphere would be the first step in the right direction,” she said, using the Reserve Bank as an example.
“Healthcare should not be politicised, our communities deserve better than that.”
“Keeping healthcare out of the political system and reviewing how the funding is delivered, unifying the current split between Commonwealth and state funding would be a great step in the right direction.”
The Sacked Board and their salaries
*Source: Mackay Hospital and Health Service, LinkedIn. Salaries for board roles only and not inclusive of daily occupation.
Darryl Camilleri - $93,000
Mr Camilleri is a chartered accountant and the former deputy mayor of Mackay Regional Council.
He currently chairs C-Res (Qld) Pty Ltd, which operates BHP’s local buy program Australia-wide.
He has served as chairman for several community organisations including RDA Mackay Isaac Whitsunday, Mackay Whitsunday Regional Economic Development Corporation, Mackay Chamber of Commerce and Mackay and District Health Council.
David Aprile - $52,000
Mr Aprile has been on the Mackay HHS board since 2013.
He is a practising pharmacist with 40 years of experience and has owned his own pharmacies since 1981, including Mackay Discount Drug Store and Good Price Pharmacy Warehouse.
He is a lecturer at the James Cook University Medicine and Dentistry college.
He has been involved in property and investment development for more than two decades.MHHS Board Remuneration 2021-2022
Dr Elissa Hatherly - $51,000
Dr Hatherly has worked in the Mackay HHS since 2002.
She graduated from the University of Queensland and pursued general practice around Mackay for several years.
She was a founding doctor for the Family Planning and Well Women’s Clinic.
Recently, she was appointed as a Director of the Northern Australia Primary Health Limited.
Adrienne Barnett - $51,000
Adrienne Barnett manages the Mackay and Region Aboriginal and Islander Development Association.
She was employed with the Mackay and District Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Aid Service, Mackay Community Development Employment Program, and Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships.
She held previous governance roles with the Mackay Aboriginal and Islander Community Health Service, Australian Indigenous Communication Association Inc. and Community Media Training Organisation.
Annabel Dolphin - $47,000
Ms Dolphin is owner and director of Dolphin Ventures and Helloworld Travel Mackay and Mt Pleasant.
She has served as an advisor and board member to a variety of Queensland organisations in industries such as energy, mining, ports, manufacturing, and health services.
She started her own business in 2010 to provide strategic human resources advice and independent consulting to the Mackay region.
She is a director of RACQ Queensland and has been chair of TAFE Queensland.
Tom McMillan - $47,000
Mr McMillan is a specialist musculoskeletal physiotherapist and executive director at Physio Plus Mackay.
He provides multidisciplinary care across private practices, hospitals, disability, aged care, industry and elite sport.
He is vice president of Australian College of Physiotherapists and professor at James Cook University Healthcare Sciences college, as well as former chairman of Australian Physiotherapy Association Rural Advisory Council.
Professor Richard Murray - $52,000
Professor Murray is dean of the Medicine and Dentistry college at James Cook University.
He is president and chair of the board of Medical Deans Australia and New Zealand, the peak body for 23 accredited medical schools.
He is also chair of JCU Health board and a member of the Australian Medical council and the Medical Workforce Reform Advisory committee.
He spent 12 years in the remote Kimberley in Western Australia as director of Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services council.
He has been on the Mackay HHS board for over a decade.
Helen Caruso - $51,000
Mrs Caruso is a chartered accountant with over 25 years' experience.
She is employed at Dendra Systems Ltd and has held Chief Financial Officer roles with the Pioneer Valley Hospital and a major mining services private company.
For 14 years she was practice manager of a public accounting and business advisory firm in Mackay where she specialised in the areas of strategy and growth, succession planning, estate planning, buying/selling businesses, human resources management and evaluating and implementing new and innovative information and communication technologies.
Suzanne Brown - $52,000
Suzanne Brown is a director and commercial solicitor at the McKays Mackay office.
She is Mackay’s only Queensland Law Society Business Law Accredited Specialist and one of 23 in the state.
In 2015, Ms Brown was named one of the Courier Mail’s 20 under 40 Business Leaders in Queensland.
From 2012-2015, Ms Brown sat as a director of North Queensland Bulk Ports, the port authority responsible for the ports of Mackay, Hay Point, Weipa and Abbot Point.
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