Dodgy doc off Cairns hire list
A CONTROVERSIAL British psychologist who was in the running for a plum new job at Cairns Hospital has been dumped from the recruitment process.
Health Minister Steven Miles has revealed Dr Richard Wayne Seamark has been taken out of contention for the $400,000 role of clinical director of mental health of Cairns Hospital.
Dr Seamark was banned as a company director in the UK last year after his company Care + Ltd failed to report serious incidents, locked a patient in a room and used expired medical equipment.
Mr Miles said he had spoken with Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service chief executive Clare Douglas and board chairman Clive Skarott and confirmed Dr Seamark was no longer being considered for the position.
“The process was suspended, when those concerns came to light, and he has since withdrawn his candidacy,” Mr Miles said.
He visited Cairns Hospital yesterday, reaffirmed the Palaszczuk Labor government’s election commitment of $1.4 million towards Cairns Hospital’s second cardiac catheter laboratory.
The State Government has matched the contribution made by the Far North Queensland Hospital Foundation towards the $2.8 million lifesaving facility, which it is hoped will be opened by late 2018.
The laboratory will allow for local heart specialists to carry out electrophysiological services without patients having to travel away from Cairns to Townsville and Brisbane.
Cairns Hospital director of cardiology Dr Greg Starmer said the old cath lab would act as a back-up facility for the health service.