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Doctors at Westmead Hospital to hold vote of no confidence in health district chief executive, amid delayed cancer scans
Doctors at Sydney's Westmead Hospital are calling for their chief executive to stand down over allegations of patient safety concerns and delayed cancer diagnoses.
In a letter sent to hospital staff, the Medical Staff Council said it plans to hold a vote of no confidence in Western Sydney Local Health District's chief executive, Graeme Loy, on Thursday evening.
Senior doctors say for the past five years they have raised concerns about unacceptable clinic wait times for routine scans that can detect preventable cancers, with some patients waiting up to three years.
"You will be aware that the [Medical Staff Council] has advocated for many years for improvement in patient care including excessive delays in clinic review, procedures and surgical admissions," deputy chair of the Westmead Medical Staff Council Jenny King wrote in the letter.
"This has been a particular concern for those patients with a positive faecal occult blood screen.
"The issue of failure to provide care for those patients at high-risk malignancy has long been documented," Dr King wrote.
Western Sydney Local Health District, Health Minister Ryan Park and NSW Health have been contacted for comment.
The revolt among staff came after the dismissal of Westmead's head of gastroenterology department, Jacob George, last week, who raised concerns with management about the lengthy wait times.
One senior doctor at Westmead, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, believed Professor George's dismissal was retaliation for speaking out.
"For many years we have been struggling to have our concerns listened to, and the executive has been aware," the doctor said.
The ABC understands wait times have impacted cancer diagnosis screenings in several departments including cardio, renal, dermatology and gastroenterology.
The senior doctor said the delays could mean hundreds of patients who have cancer are in the dark about their disease, or receive late diagnoses.
"It's a major risk and it's something we shouldn't be letting people down on," the doctor said.
"If you have a possible cancer, we like to get a colonoscopy done within 30 days, but patients are waiting months, and the risk is the cancer has disseminated."
Kathryn Austin, Australian Medical Association NSW president, said the issues were symptomatic of a lack of investment in staffing in public hospitals.
"There has not been the investment in workforce that we need and the workforce is who deliver the care to patients," she said.
"It's a sad state of affairs that it's come to this point and the clinical concerns haven't been addressed."
A vote of no confidence has no binding power and does not mean Mr Loy will be dismissed from this role if passed.
But the senior doctor said the significance of an unanimous vote would be hard to ignore.
"If we don't win, the whole of public health is threatened," the senior doctor said.
