The “”whistle-blower” who drew attention to irregularities at Melba Health Centre last year says she has been victimised and her career ruined as a result. An independent audit by Coopers and Lybrand confirmed her assertions of irregularities over the procedures for handling of petty cash, drugs and assets at the centre, but could not come to any conclusion about other assertions about misuse of cars and phones. The “”whistle-blower”, a practitioner nurse, said yesterday that she had been rewarded with an “”inefficiency action” _ which can lead to dismissal or transfer. The nurse did not want to be named for fear of reprisals and did not want specific staff or doctors at the centre named for fear of defamation actions. She said that some of the staff and doctors were not involved in the irregularities or the victimisation.
The Minister for Health, Terry Connolly, said her allegations had been taken seriously. An independent audit had been sought. The efficiency matter was separate and being looked at by the Merit Protection Review Agency, so he could not comment on that. The acting chief executive of the Department of Health, Heidi Ramsay, said the employee had not been victimised and there was no link between the her allegations and the inefficiency procedures. The nurse said that when she had started work at the centre in January 1993 she had noticed drugs not being kept in accordance with the Dangerous Drugs Act, that staff were misusing petty cash and other irregularities. She had tried to fix things by setting an example. “”I moved the drug trolley out of the public foyer many times into my room,” she said. “”I had to fit my own lock to the drugs cupboard in my room.” She would not join the “”so-what” attitude about drugs and petty cash. She got the impression that as a result the staff, with rare exception, did not like her.
“”They isolated me; they would not talk to me,” she said. She brought her concerns to a manager in mid-1993 but nothing happened. In January she was present with an inefficiency action. An assessment was done in March. In April she had an accident with a falling patient at work and severely injured her back and has been off work ever since. In July a finding of inefficiency was made against her. “”They said they could not fault my professional work but I was not getting along with staff,” she said. She is appealing the finding to the Merit Protection Review Agency which is still hearing submissions. Mr Connolly said, “”We will accept finding of MPRA. People generally have confidence in that body.” Mr Connolly said that while the audit had confirmed some of the nurse’s allegations, they were largely procedural matters which had now been attended to. It had found other allegations not to be valid. The secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation ACT Branch, Colleen Duff, said, “”The question involves the position of all Melba Health Centre staff.
I wouldn’t like a trial by media because those staff are not in position to defend themselves publicly. The union has a policy that sets a standard about how professional nurses should behave when dealing with problems they encounter in the workplace with all other staff. These involve internal process. Whether they were properly exercised in this case is now a matter before the MPRA and I don’t want to comment about it now.” Ms Ramsay said, “”The audit findings would lead to some procedures in health centres being modified. The audit found no evidence to confirm the employee’s allegations about the honesty and integrity of staff.” The MPRA would ensure she was treated fairly.