The weakest link?

Abstract

THE EXTRAORDINARY COVERAGE of complaints of poor and dangerous patient care at Macarthur Health Service (Campbelltown and Camden Hospitals) has all the hallmarks of a pulp novel ? relentless and emotional media coverage, tragic personal stories, political intrigue at high levels and eloquent legal argument. Never before has New South Wales experienced such an event, nor most other jurisdictions for that matter. Perhaps only the coverage of King Edward Hospital in Perth comes close. Clinicians at the two hospitals have been variously portrayed as everything from doctors and nurses who were happy to turn their backs on dying patients through to one of the many victims of a fundamental political, policy and structural failure to distribute health care resources in proportion to need. In the same vein, the local hospital- management group has been portrayed as either an incompetent and corrupt group who engaged in cover-ups, shredding documents and targeting anyone who raised concerns, or as a caring but embattled group who were doing their best to manage a continuously increasing gap between demand and supply. Likewise, the nurses who publicly raised the allegations have been variously portrayed as either whistleblowers acting solely in the public interest, who were punished and sacked for bringing the truth to light, or as vexatious troublemakers seeking revenge on hospital managers who had previously disciplined them for bullying, harassment and/or poor clinical care. And, as usual, the truth lies somewhere in between.