A grieving woman who waited months for the outcome of a hospital review is shocked her mother's sudden death was not taken into consideration.
Dianne Kington's mother, June Ely, died unexpectedly in March while receiving treatment at the Queensland hospital after a fall.
She said she was told the death of the 83-year-old would be part of an investigation into the hospital's use of sedatives, which was sparked by allegations mismanagment had caused patient harm.
After months of waiting anxiously for the results, it was only after the recommendations from that review were released that Ms Kington learned the investigation never examined her mother's case.
Ms Kington said she had lost confidence in the health authorities.
"I'm still none the wiser about what happened to my mother," she said.
"Imagine what this is doing to me mentally and emotionally."
Case excluded
Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service referred the case to an independent team in July for consideration in the clinical review and health service investigation commissioned to address concerns raised by patient advocate Beryl Crosby.
It related to two separate incidents of medication management in 2021 that resulted in one nurse being sacked and three others being disciplined.
The executive summary released this week made 39 recommendations for practice improvements but cleared the hospital of wrongdoing and Queensland Health said it found no evidence of patient harm or death.
It was only after Ms Kington challenged that finding she discovered her mother's case was excluded from the two-part review.
"Don't talk to me about no deaths, you can't get any more dead than [my mother]," she said.
"[The Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service] told me my mother's case was investigated and now I'm learning it was only referred."
She was outraged the health service had not made the outcome of the referral clear to her sooner.
"At least communicate with the families involved," she said.
"We're all going through hell emotionally and mentally, and we're getting told nothing.
"We deserve answers."
No evidence, plenty of questions
A Queensland Health spokesman would not comment on the specifics of Ms Ely's case.
He said the review examined the prescription and administration of medications with a sedative effect in Medical Ward 3 at the Bundaberg Hospital.
"The review and investigation considered cases of patients who were prescribed and/or administered S8 and S4 medications with a sedative effect to inform their findings," he said.
"To date, there has been no evidence presented to support claims of patient harm or death.
"Anyone with evidence to support their claims should present them to Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service."
The Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service did not respond to questions and declined to elaborate further on Queensland Health's statement but had previously said it accepted all of the recommendations.
Ms Ely's death, including the administration of an anti-psychotic drug during her treatment, was referred to the coroner but the findings are yet to be released.
Patient advocate Beryl Crosby, who instigated the investigation, has backed Ms Kington's call for transparency.
Ms Crosby also led calls for a probe into patient care at the Mackay Hospital that resulted in the entire Mackay Hospital and Health Service Board being sacked.
"We want to see the review findings like we did at Mackay," she said.
"I believe that this report needs to be made public, so that the public can scrutinise this report."
Full report will not be released
But a Queensland Health spokesman said the full report of the review findings could not be released because it contained individual patient information.
"The Director-General is satisfied the published executive summaries are comprehensive enough to properly inform the community on the outcomes of the review and investigation," he said.
Burnett MP Stephen Bennett said patients had waited months for answers to only see an executive summary the week before Christmas.
"This is about the patients and families that have contacted us over many months, raising these serious issues," he said.
"I can't believe after 39 recommendations have been put forward, [the Wide Bay Health Service is] trying to tell us that there's nothing to see."
Mr Bennett said the executive summary did not provide a clear account of what led to the disciplining of the four nurses involved.
"We need a full report to get to the bottom of what was found," he said.
"We know that, usually, most of these reports are released fully for everyone to digest, and to make sure full transparency and accountability is in action."
