Report from Australia

Abstract

In Queensland Australia we have been the focus of two major inquiries into our public health system – Queensland Health. The basis for one of the inquiries (a Royal Commission) was the alleged activities of an overseas trained doctor in a rural town. Allegedly he was responsible for several adverse patient outcomes, some of which resulted in the death of patients. As a result of a nurse who decided to ‘blow the whistle’, an initial inquiry into the work of that doctor was established. That Royal Commission has yet to report its findings. However, a systems review was also established – called the Forster Inquiry – and I was a member of the rural and remote advisory panel to this inquiry.