Poor hygiene claims: Oil on Daryl Stephens’ scrubs after sleep next to spare car tyre

Mackay Hospital was warned as recently as June this year a controversial doctor continued to work in dirty scrubs and had poor hand cleanliness.

Health authorities have known for years a controversial Mackay doctor had alarming hygiene standards – once even turning up for surgery in grease-stained scrubs after sleeping in his car next to tools and a spare tyre – but gave him the green light to keep operating.

Concerns about Dr Daryl Stephens’ hygiene and infection-control practices led to him being ordered to undergo special training in “aseptic technique” in 2021.

And as late as June this year, executives at the Mackay HHS were warned in writing he was continuing to turn up to work in dirty scrubs and had poor hand hygiene.

It was not until he was reported for allegedly blowing his nose on a drape covering an unconscious patient during surgery that he was finally again suspended.

Dr Daryl Stephens has been embroiled in multiple hygiene concerns.

The Sunday Mail can reveal there has also been a complaint that he allegedly blew his nose on a piece of medical gauze – and didn’t rescrub – during another operation while not wearing a mask and for failing to use proper PPE while operating on a Covid-positive patient.

There were other claims that he threw a lead apron into bodily fluids during a procedure and that he used the formalin pot (where tissue specimens are stored) to get tissue off a biopsy tool that was then used on the patient. His previous 19-month suspension, which ended in March 2021, was also related to infection concerns, among other claims. In 2019, it was claimed he arrived in theatre and performed surgery wearing dirty scrubs.

Dr Stephens was accused of leaving the hospital wearing his scrubs to sleep in his car in the carpark beside a spare tyre and tools and returned to operate with marks from tyre or oil on his scrubs.

The doctor had been working on his car earlier in the morning and slept with the tyre and tools at his left shoulder.

Co-workers noted he had a big spot of grey dried paint on his forearm that had been there for days. They claimed that he also had a black grease or oil mark on his arm.

The doctor argued that other staff wear scrubs outside the hospital and he did not perform his duties carelessly or incompetently.