Mackay Hospital board given extra seven days to show cause

Lawyers for a beleaguered Queensland hospital board have won an extra week to show cause why it should not be dismissed.

The beleaguered board of Mackay Base Hospital will be given seven extra days to explain why it shouldn’t be sacked following damning revelations of a toxic culture at the regional health facility.

The state government, in a statement on Friday, confirmed lawyers for the Mackay Health and Hospital Service Board had requested an additional week to reply to the show-cause notice issued on September 30.

Health Minister Yvette D’Ath agreed to the extension, meaning the board must now respond by October 14.

She issued the show-cause notice to the Mackay HHS board the day an independent report in the hospital’s gynaecology and obstetrics department was handed down.

An inquiry made damning findings about Mackay Base Hospital

The report revealed at toxic workplace culture and systemic failures throughout Mackay Base Hospital led to botched surgery and inadequate care, which left three babies dead and dozens of women physically and mentally scarred for life.

There was a high incidence of intestinal trauma, or “hollow viscus injuries”, during obstetrics and gynaecology surgery at the hospital, with 21 cases recorded in a year when a hospital of its size should record between one and no cases.

There were also failures to thoroughly investigate, or investigate at all, issues that came up, with concerns raised by doctors and midwives into the behaviour of consultants, practices and outcomes dismissed by senior staff.

Highly respected senior clinician and Ramsay Health chief medical officer Dr Robert Herkes has been brought in as a special clinical adviser to oversee governance improvements within the hospital’s board.