Wrong lift installed at Gove ER

LEAKED documents show the “wrong type of lift” has been installed at the Gove Hospital emergency department — which will cost taxpayers a whopping $1 million to replace

It may cost $1 million to replace the lift

LEAKED documents show the “wrong type of lift” has been installed at the Gove Hospital emergency department — which will cost taxpayers a whopping $1 million to replace.

The information was exposed by ABC Darwin after the newsroom found a 52-page bundle of internal NT Government documents abandoned on the street.

According to the paperwork, the “wrong type of lift” was installed at Gove Hospital when it was renovated late last year — although both the Health Department and the Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics Department agreed prior to renovations about the type of lift to be installed.

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“DIPL has difficulty identifying who is the client and who is the user, ie the authorised decision-maker on a project,” the document reads.

“Often scope changes are actually made without having been authorised by the client (for example) installation of the wrong type of lift at Gove ED, resulting in the need to now replace the (lift) with the correct type at a cost of $1M.”

Health Minister Natasha Fyles said in 2016, both the Health Department and Infrastructure, Planning and Logistics Department agreed to install a goods lift and a ramp for patient transport at the facility.

Ms Fyles said both departments agreed again in 2018 to install a goods lift instead of a patient lift at Gove Hospital.

“As I understand, everyone agreed at the time to having a ramp for patients and a goods lift,” she said.

“Clinicians would (now) like to see a patient lift as well and that is being worked through.

“I don’t call it a bungle.”

Ms Fyles said the leak of the working documents was a worry and she was speaking with senior staff in both department to learn more about the error.

“People need to have these conversations,” she said.

IN OTHER NEWS

It will cost about $1 million to add the lift, which comes at a difficult financial time for the Gunner Government, with its annual interest bill predicted to hit $2 billion a year and net debt to reach $35 billion by 2029-30 unless it cuts spending.

Seven out of the past eight years the NT Government has failed to stick to its own health budget.

In the past decade, the NT Health Department overspent its budget every year except 2015-16, when it recorded a shock $6.5 million surplus.

In 2008-09, while under the broader umbrella of “health and families”, the department also scraped in under budget.

The Gunner Government is in the midst of a financial crisis, with its annual interest bill predicted to hit $2 billion a year and net debt to reach $35 billion by 2029-30 unless it cuts spending.

More to come.