Sydney: When Australia’s health minister toured an urgent care clinic, he saw how staff were treating patients in crisis – one injured in an ambulance and another on a trolley.
But that was not the case when Victorian Health Minister Mary-Anne Thomas visited the clinic in the Colac heath area, south-west of the state capital Melbourne, last year.
Apparently, that was not enough.
So, “about 10” local health workers are patients and sitting in the waiting room, according to an independent investigation released on Wednesday, August 9.
In addition, “at least one ambulance” came to the ministry during the visit, including a person who showed himself “not in need of treatment”.
In a study by Wise Workplace Solutions, a healthcare worker who was “injured but not really receiving care” occupied a trolley in a back hallway.
After the visit, the patient was disenrolled from the system and left “without any treatment.”
“I didn’t notice anything in particular. I had no reason to think anything was wrong,” the health minister told reporters.
“I’m very sad. We don’t need health services to train fake patients to know that our health care system is in trouble.”
Health Victoria said the incident was “inappropriate”.
