A prominent Queensland patient advocate is demanding an overhaul of how doctors are regulated Australia-wide amid an escalating controversy in two states over embattled obstetrician gynaecologist George Campbell du Toit.
Beryl Crosby, who triggered a review into the Mackay Base Hospital's obstetrics and gynaecology unit during Dr du Toit's time as director, said his patients in both Queensland and Western Australia had been betrayed by a flawed complaints process.
The scathing report into the Mackay investigation, handed down in September, found many women had "sustained lifelong physical and mental harm" after receiving sub-standard care at the hospital.
Dr du Toit is banned from practising surgery after the Office of the Health Ombudsman (OHO) in Queensland placed restrictions on his registration in June – three months after he resigned from the Mackay Base Hospital and eight months after he was suspended, pending the outcome of the review.
But Ms Crosby is angry he was able to easily move to Queensland after his contract was not renewed in Albany, Western Australia, in 2020.
He also applied to work at other health services after he resigned from the Mackay Base Hospital in March this year.
A Victorian health service that received a job application from Dr du Toit contacted Ms Crosby, instead of regulatory authorities, to discuss the obstetrician gynaecologist and what she knew about adverse outcomes in Mackay after reading ABC stories about the Mackay review.
A new review into Dr du Toit's competence as a doctor, triggered by the damning Mackay findings, is under way, looking at women he treated at the Albany Health Campus, where he worked for four years between 2016 and 2020.
Pam Cheney, a patient of Dr du Toit's in Albany, said she complained to her local hospital after one of her ureters was "stitched right through the tube so no urine could go out of my kidney" during gynaecological surgery in 2017.
She said she had to be transferred to Perth's Fiona Stanley Hospital and needed to wear a bag outside her body to collect urine for months before having reconstructive surgery.
The 61-year-old said thinking about the hysterectomy and vaginal repair by Dr du Toit, and a trainee doctor he was assisting, still left her "fuming".
"It still gets to me," she said.
"I'm a pretty proud person and to have to wear a bag on my leg afterwards, it was horrific.
"Five years on and it still plays on my mind. I ended up with post-traumatic stress disorder, the works."
Ms Cheney said had the Albany Health Campus taken her complaint seriously, and not dismissed her injuries as a "complication", Mackay women may not have experienced physical and mental harm.
Ms Crosby, a former Bundaberg Hospital patient of disgraced surgeon Jayant Patel, said many women could have been spared heartache if hospitals and medical regulation bodies, such as the Office of the Health Ombudsman (OHO) and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), had taken complaints seriously.
One young Mackay woman was told she may need to use catheters for life after her bladder was cut during a caesarean performed by Dr du Toit last year.
The woman complained to the Mackay Base Hospital, OHO and AHPRA soon after her caesarean.
But Mackay Base Hospital dismissed her concerns as "a communications issue".
"How we communicate with our patients is very important to us and your feedback around the interactions you have had with our team members has been addressed," it said.
Ms Crosby said she knew of other Queensland patients who had complained about poor care to their local hospital and health service.
When their concerns were dismissed, she said some then complained to the OHO, only to have the complaint returned back to the hospital and health service to investigate.
"It's like going around the block and ending up where you started," Ms Crosby said.
"The regulatory bodies are responsible for keeping the public safe from harm by practitioners but instead seem to do the opposite and only act when there is a public outcry.
"The whole system needs an overhaul."
Call for second review
Ms Cheney complained to the Albany Health Campus for a second time after learning about the outcome of the Mackay Base Hospital review.
"I would like my case to be reviewed again in the light of what has occurred in Queensland," she wrote.
A review into the care Dr du Toit provided in Albany has been launched following the Mackay findings.
West Australian Country Health Service chief operating officer Robert Pulsford said it would be led by "clinical experts" and have oversight by Western Australia's Chief Medical Officer.
"While we won't pre-empt findings, if there have been adverse outcomes, we will communicate openly and transparently with patients and their support people," Mr Pulsford said.
In a statement, AHPRA said it continued to work with OHO on matters related to the Mackay Base Hospital.
"As a regulator of health practitioners, public safety is our priority and we can take immediate action to suspend a practitioner's registration if we determine the public is at risk," the statement said.
"AHPRA and OHO co-regulate health practitioners in Queensland. Since December 2021, all notifications relating to a practitioner in Queensland are considered by OHO and AHPRA at the same time and a joint decision is made on which organisation will manage the matter.
"Regardless of who is best placed to lead an investigation into a practitioner, AHPRA and state bodies, including OHO, work together to share data and information to resolve matters."
AHPRA said it was independent of internal hospital complaints systems.
"When we are managing a notification, we can be contacted directly by patients and practitioners and there are strict confidentiality safeguards in place," the statement said.
Comment has been sought from OHO and Dr du Toit through his lawyers.
