Two senior cardiologists have recently resigned from the department at North Canberra Hospital. Photo: Claire Fenwicke.
Canberra Health Services has clarified cardiology is still being supported at North Canberra Hospital despite the recent resignations of two senior staff.
Two senior cardiologists resigned from the hospital earlier this month, prompting Shadow Health Minister Leanne Castley to question Canberra Health Services (CHS) at budget estimates on Thursday (24 July) if this meant North Canberra Hospital (NCH) had been left without any senior cardiologists.
CHS director general Janet Zagari said this was “not correct”.
“We have got coverage at North Canberra Hospital,” she said.
Ms Zagari explained a locum cardiologist was working at NCH this week, a Canberra Hospital cardiologist would cover the northside hospital next week, and another NCH senior cardiologist was due back from leave shortly.
“There is a combination of measures we’re using to ensure there’s continued coverage at North Canberra Hospital,” she said.
“[There] has been a locum involved in the roster of cardiologists [at NCH previously].
“As a result of the resignations, we will add additional locums to that roster [and] determine if they are appropriate to provide cover.”
Ms Zagari said locums had previously been used to cover leave situations at the hospital.
Ms Castley expressed concerns the ACT had lost skills or locums wouldn’t have the appropriate skill level to cover the senior staff who had left.
Ms Zagari assured her any details of locums provided by agencies were vetted to ensure they had the “appropriate level of skill” to provide what was required.
“North Canberra Hospital provides cardiology at a general hospital level, not a tertiary level,” she said.
Ms Castley questioned what was happening within CHS and the cardiology department that had led to the staff resigning, pointing to the spate of resignations of orthopaedic surgeons from Canberra Hospital earlier this year.
Ms Zagari answered she wouldn’t go into personal circumstances, but stated the reasons weren’t all necessarily related to the workplace.
“We are working to understand exactly what concerns they had,” she said.
After negotiations, three of the orthopaedic surgeons reversed their decisions to quit.
Issues surrounding surgery wait times are expected to be examined as part of a yet-to-be-established independent inquiry into the health system.
