Health funds in disarray
WHEN the deaths of three women in the remote north west community of Doomadgee from complications associated with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) hit the headlines in early March, the state government promptly announced $7.38m funding with $2.88m to be spent this financial year.
But health bureaucrats are in a race against time to spend the money, a coronial inquest in Cairns heard on Thursday.
Northern Coroner Nerida Wilson is presiding over an inquest into the deaths of Betty, 18, Ms Sandy, 37, and Kaya, 17, who all died as a consequence of RHD – a condition 75 times more likely to afflict Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people than the rest of the population.
The inquest will examine the adequacy of the primary health services provided by Gidgee Healing, a National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), providing treatment, education and follow-up to the trio.
It is considering the adequacy of the care provided by Doomadgee Hospital to the women, particularly in the six months leading up to their deaths, whether there was a delay transferring Kaya to Brisbane for surgery, and the adequacy of screening for RHD and the public health, education and prevention and follow-up provided in the community.
After the scandal erupted, State Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said in a statement she’d sacked the board of the North West Hospital and Health Service (NWHHS), but chief executive Craig Carey, giving evidence at the inquest, said board members either retired, resigned or were dismissed.
He spoke about the development of a health equity strategy involving meetings with multiple stakeholders, and the state government has said the $7.38m funding would support development of a specific RHD health workforce plan, a research agenda, and would build on a 2018 strategy.
But Mr Carey said there was pressure to spend the funds before the end of the financial year. “The concern is to utilise that funding as quickly as possible,” he said.
The inquiry has heard the Doomadgee community wants active involvement in a way forward with culturally-appropriate liaison staff, but Mr Carey said the tight time frame precluded that.
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Melinda Zerner, quoted a doctor who gave evidence earlier saying “strategies sit on a bookshelf and gather dust”.
“There’s been review after review and we’re not really seeing some change,” Ms Zerner suggested. Mr Carey said for the first time, the strategy was being “co-designed, co-planned, co-implemented, core-viewed and coordinated (with other stakeholders) rather than simply just being undertaken within NWHHS”.
The inquiry has heard of friction and lack of communication between Gidgee Healing and Doomadgee Hospital as well as staff shortages.
In May, the federal government provided an extra $6m to the NACCHO to address RHD, with a focus on Doomadgee, Yarrabah and Cairns.