Two independent reviews have found that an overseas-trained unregistered doctor working at Port Augusta deliberately misrepresented himself to staff at the hospital to gain access to the emergency department.
Key points:
- The man was trained as a doctor overseas but was waiting to receive his registration
- SA Health investigations found the man lied about the status of his registration and his criminal history
- The unregistered doctor worked in the Port Augusta Emergency Department for six days
The doctor worked in the Port Augusta Emergency Department without registration for six days between April 24 and May 2 before being removed from the premises.
He had been offered a place as an intern pending the approval of his registration, but the reports found he intentionally and repeatedly lied to staff about the progress of his registration application.
The reviews were conducted by Henderson Horocks Risk Services and University of Queensland Rural Clinical School adjunct professor Alan Sandford and were handed to SA Health on Wednesday.
It was also found that the doctor deliberately failed to disclose his criminal history to the Flinders and Upper North Local Health Network (FUNLHN) in fear of not gaining employment.
SA Health chief executive, Robyn Lawrence, said he was able to gain staff access into the hospital because his name was on the roster.
“He was on the roster because people were anticipating his registration coming through, so they (FUNLHN) had factored this in when they rostered his staff.”
“People believed in good faith that his registration would come through at any given time, so they were being prepared to slot him straight into the system.
“We’ve learnt that’s not appropriate, but this is the first time something like this has happened.”
“One of the recommendations is that this doesn’t happen, so until people are registered, and we’ve got all their credentials, then they will not go onto rosters in the regions.”
Dr Lawrence said most interns came through the South Australian Medical Training (SA MET) program, where credentials were checked.
However, this doctor applied to a regional network rather than through the central processes or rural support services.
SA Health has been handed a number of recommendations that they will accept and implement with the help of the FUNLHN.
This means all potential intern doctors requiring supervision will need to be reviewed by SA MET prior to recruitment.
Potential registered doctors will also need verified evidence from clinical referees attesting to their performance before gaining employment.
Applications for registrations for overseas trained doctors will be completed by the doctor and a local health network representative together.
The doctor remains unregistered and is currently under investigation by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.
‘Extensive deception and lies’
Minister for Health and Wellbeing Chris Picton said this case had been dealt with extreme seriousness.
“The independent investigations highlighted the extensive deception and lies that occurred in this case of this doctor without registration,” he said.
“The reports give the SA Health teams useful recommendations to improve systems and help to deal with similar cases of deception in the future.”
A spokesperson for the opposition said the situation was deeply concerning.
“It must have been incredibly distressing for those who were treated by this individual to learn he wasn’t authorised to access the Emergency Department,” the spokesperson said.
“The government must do everything it can to ensure an unacceptable incident like this doesn’t happen again.”