Gold Coast University Hospital mental health staffers unaware of patient’s Covid-positive status
GCUH mental health workers are “beside themselves” after learning a Covid-positive patient was treated in a ward for days without staff being informed. EXCLUSIVE
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Gold Coast University Hospital mental health workers are “beside themselves” after learning a Covid-positive patient was treated in a ward for days without staff being informed.
A concerned insider said senior management of GCUH’s Malaeluca Unit allegedly failed to enact Covid-management plans despite knowing about the man’s diagnosis.
The insider claimed the team – operating on less than half its usual roster – were only told about the case three days later.
But a Gold Coast Health spokeswoman said both the hospital and its management were well-equipped to handle the situation, with preparations for such scenarios starting two years ago.
The city’s medical experts previously highlighted staffing woes in hospitals as the Covid crisis unfolded but remained adamant those needing urgent treatment would be seen quickly.
“The patient has been in the ward for a while now and all staff are potentially infected,” the source alleged, claiming staff were only told about the case days later.
“The patient has been placed in the ward for three days now and management are just now talking about moving him to a Covid ward which they should have done in the first place.”
The insider described managment’s alleged inaction as “pure incompetence”.
“The staff are beside themselves. Management still are doing nothing and are well aware,” they claimed.
It follows a horror stretch for Queensland’s health services as testing numbers, queues and confirmed cases exacerbate pressures on an already strained system.
“Some of the staff have their own health issues and live with immunocompromised family who are now also at risk,” the insider said, claiming PPE equipment was also lacking.
“The psych ward is not geared for Covid patients.” “They now only have three of the usual staff for the ward this afternoon (Wednesday) and should have eight.”
Staff are demanding the patient be relocated to a Covid ward, the insider said.
The Bulletin asked Gold Coast Health whether an overflowing Covid ward forced the positive man to remain in the Melaleuca unit, and if staff safety were at-risk.
The spokeswoman said appropriate measures had been taken to ensure patients were correctly triaged: “While we have designated wards to care for Covid-19 patients, patients are admitted to and cared for in the most appropriate ward according to their individual needs,” she said.
“There are processes in place to manage Covid-19 patients in whichever ward in deemed most suitable for their care.”
“This has included training staff in all wards in infection control practices and the correct use of PPE,” she said.
A total 327 people are in hospital with the virus in Queensland. 14 are in intensive care unit.
Pathology QLD blindsided by huge ‘dump’ of Covid-19 tests
January 7, 2021
Exhausted pathology staff blindsided by plans to “dump thousands of Covid tests” on understaffed clinics over Christmas say they had “no idea” the swabs were even coming.
It’s one of many damning allegations by a Pathology Queensland insider, critical of Queensland Health for failing to disclose a mammoth shipment from private testing firm Covax Australia.
“Pathology Queensland had no idea the work was coming until it turned up on our doorstep,” the insider said.
“We were completely unprepared to receive that volume of work over that period from a private provider. Private providers usually have their own testing labs to do their work.”
The claims come after a week of horror PCR test queues – stretching kilometres – waits of up to nine hours stretching people to breaking point and a mislabelling bungle leaving some needing to line up again.
Covax Australia operated drive-through clinics at Bond University and two in Brisbane until December 31. It was called in by Queensland Health’s Gold Coast Health and Hospital Services plus North Metro Health and Hospital Services over the festive season to assist with exploding demand for testing. Many other private pathologists were closed at the time.
The insider added: “(We) had no dealing with Covax until on or around Christmas and we had no idea they planned to dump thousands of swab on us between Christmas and New Years.”
The Bulletin asked Health Minister Yvette D’Ath why Pathology Qld was given no notification of the giant test batch coming its way – and if the situation was so desperate with testing demand it didn’t do the proper checks to vet the capacity of private providers.
Her office declined to respond, punting the questions to Queensland Health – which also would not comment on the record with attributable information.
More than 200 samples were allegedly mislabelled, missing either a patient’s name or date of birth, the insider claimed – something disputed by Covax Australia director Mannu Kala.
“PQ hasn’t given us exact numbers of people affected but the data I got from them for the recollection indicates it was less than 200. I haven’t sent 200 emails,” Mr Kala said, referencing correspondence sent to the affected parties.
Covax Australia said it had requested its own removal from Queensland Health’s testing website.
The insider disputed that, alleging the removal was due to Covax Australia’s alleged “poor quality and the fact the volume was greater than our capacity”: “The labelling was atrocious. The patients themselves were filling in their request forms and labels for the swabs. This was the problem.
Pathology samples must be labelled as per The National Pathology Accreditation Advisory Council (NPAAC) guidelines, the insider said. That requires a minimum full name, date of birth, and three points of ID.
“The details must match exactly,” they said.
Pathology Queensland had reduced capability to take on extra work as staff isolated, when deemed either close contacts or Covid-positive, they added.
Covax Australia has since closed its testing stations at the request of Queensland Health as workers try in vain to clear a backlog of pending test results.
Asked whether Covax was equipped to handle the huge testing numbers, Mr Kala said: “We had no issues, we’ve done this multiple times. We are more than capable of handling any type of this work in the state.
“They asked private providers to help out over that time and they said no, so we came to the rescue.”
Covax Australia workers are assisting with testing at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Mr Kala said, with several other projects for Health and Hospital Services in the pipeline.
Covax boss speaks out on testing bungle
January 5, 2021
The Gold Coast boss of a Covid testing firm at the centre of a mislabelling bungle says fewer than 200 of 30,000 samples were involved – and he’d helped shrink wait times for tests.
Covax Australia’s Gold Coast-based director Mannu Kala – speaking less than 24 hours after it was revealed the company mislabelled “less than 200” PCR tests last week – said his firm was removed from Queensland Health’s website at its own request.
His private company, enlisted by the state’s Pathology Queensland to help with surging demand for tests during the pandemic, operates test clinics at Bond University plus Brisbane.
Mr Kala said Queensland Health called him at the “last minute” on Christmas Eve with a request to operate testing sites as other private providers were closed.
Covax Australia is not a certified pathology unit and must send all PCR test swabs to QLD Pathology or other private pathology labs for processing.
“We reduced waiting time for tests. My team was working throughout the holiday period and didn’t get to see their families on Christmas just to clear the bottleneck,” he said.
Asked the exact figure of tests mislabelled, Mr Kala said “less than 200 out of 30,000 people” were missing either their names or date of birth from the samples including Gold Coasters.
“Normally it’s not a major issue in the pathology world when samples are mislabelled.
“Collectors usually make some small errors and if there’s labelling issues when it gets to pathology, they contact the collectors.”
“We’re looking at thousands of cars coming up and sometimes collectors are prepared for this kind of volume,” he said, touching on the overwhelming queues outside clinics statewide.
It was only when Pathology Queensland went to analyse the samples up to four days later due to testing backlogs that staff realised the error.
Mr Kala said those affected had been contacted to return for recollection at Covax’s Brisbane-based QUT Kelvin Grove clinic which reopened to cater just to those needing to be retested.
He said 100 of the mislabelled tests had already returned for recollection.
“This can be rectified pretty fast. When I knew there was a labelling issue, I had to come up with some solution straight away,” he said, adding the site was not open to the general public.
He rejected earlier reports by media that swabs had disappeared.
Covax Australia’s testing clinics including Bond University’s drive-through have since closed at the request of Pathology Queensland, as staff attempt to work through processing a backlog of testing results, according to Mr Kala.
“If Queensland Health had more capacity to process those samples, my team could literally clear the bottleneck of (testing) in the state,” he said.
Mr Kala said the public health system should be equipped to handle up to 60,000 samples each day: “Relying on private pathology companies should be a plan B not a plan A.”
“We are still working with Queensland Health and assisting them in several other projects.”
Health Minister Yvette D’Ath told media on Tuesday she had not made aware of mislabelling but would follow up with Queensland Health.
‘Sliding into crisis’: Surgeries canned amid Covid surge
January 3, 2021
MORE than 57,000 residents requiring elective surgeries are being warned they may be in for a long wait as Queensland’s healthcare system struggles under the weight of a Covid outbreak.
Chief Health Officer John Gerrard this week confirmed many non-essential procedures had been cancelled as the state’s hospitals struggled amid staff shortages, as those left now faced the mammoth task of preparing for a spike in Covid-related admissions.
Opposition leader David Crisafulli slammed the state’s leaders for their failure to “properly resource elective surgeries” despite long predicting a surge in case numbers when the border reopened.
“If the State Government had listened to health workers, properly planned for the future and understood how to run a health system we wouldn’t see surgeries being cancelled,” Mr Crisafulli said, predicting the decision would potentially impact 300,000-plus residents.
According to Mr Crisafulli, 57,343 people were currently on the state’s elective surgery wait list while more than 245,300 remained on the “waiting list for the waiting list”.
“The health system has been sliding into crisis for the last 7 years and now at a time we really need the health system to be rock solid, Queenslanders are paying the price.”
Shadow Health Minister Ros Bates said pressures of the outbreak had intensified the strain on Queensland’s healthcare system.
“Make no mistake our health system was in crisis before we had ever even heard of Covid-19,” Ms Bates said.
“That is why we have put solutions on the table like localising decision making to empower the frontline, better triaging, more beds and releasing hospital data in real time.
“Queenslanders expect far better than what they are getting from this government.”
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