Staff members at a regional hospital posed as “fake patients” to make their urgent care clinic appear busier during a visit by the Victorian health minister last year, an investigation has found.
The health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas on Wednesday told reporters an investigation into her visit to Colac area health’s urgent care clinic on 9 August 2023, had been completed and the staff would not be sanctioned.
“It has confirmed that staff at Colac area health posed as patients during my visit on that day,” she said.
“These staff members were registered as patients in the urgent care centre registration system. Their registrations were later cancelled after I had left.”
Thomas said the deception included a staff member arriving to the clinic by ambulance.
“We do know that at least one person who did not require medical treatment arrived at the hospital in an ambulance. We also know that one person who was a staff member was on a trolley,” she said.
Thomas said the group had been enlisted “by some management staff to help the urgent care centre appear busier than it actually was”.
“I’m very disappointed,” she said. “I don’t need our health services to be staging fake patients to need to know that our health system is facing challenges.”
Thomas said she could not remember “anything was untoward” during the visit.
“It’s certainly not something that ever crossed my mind that a health service would work to deceive a government minister in such a way,” she said.
The investigation, commissioned by the health department and conducted by Wise Workplace Solutions, was launched after reporting by the Colac Herald.
Thomas would not release the report on Wednesday, citing privacy concerns, but provided an executive summary.
It confirmed 10 staff members working in other parts of the hospital had attended the clinic and sat in the waiting room during the visit. Arrangements were also made for one staff member to arrive by ambulance, who was then triaged by staff in the urgent care clinic.
Another “occupied a trolley in the back corridor”, it said.
The investigation said the evidence did not suggest that any resources had been diverted away from the care of genuine patients at the time but there was a “real possibility that patient care could have been impacted by the presence of patients who were not in genuine need”.
Wise Workplace Solutions and the department both took the view the incidents were inappropriate and did not align with the department’s expectations under both Colac area health or the public sector’s codes of conduct.
But the investigation did not recommended disciplining the staff who posed as patients.
It found they did what “they had been asked to do” and “went along with what was happening under the apparent belief that this is what was expected of them” by the hospital.
However, it recommended Colac area health convey the seriousness of what occurred to staff and the significant impact it could have had on patients, as well as to remind them to speak up if asked to do something that they believe is unethical.
Thomas said it was now up to Colac area health to take action against the staff members who organised the stunt. She said this could include “counselling, training or indeed disciplinary action”.
Colac area health’s interim chief executive, Prof Steve Moylan, apologised over the incident.
“We are sorry for what occurred in the urgent care centre, it is highly regrettable and we’ve accepted all recommendations from the independent investigation,” he said.
“Whilst the investigation found there was no impact to patient care, we know the incident posed a potential risk and that’s something we will ensure doesn’t happen again.”
Colac area health will consider disciplinary action for a group of staff identified in the report.
Ambulance Victoria is also investigating its involvement in the episode.
