Three young women who died in the space of a year after seeking treatment at a remote north-west Queensland hospital have been "badly let down", the state's Health Minister says.
Multiple investigations are underway into what minister Yvette D'Ath describes as "tragic cases", revealed in last night's Four Corners program.
Four Corners' story revealed the deaths in the town of Doomadgee of young women with severe rheumatic heart disease (RHD) after being sent home with Panadol when they presented to the local hospital emergency department.
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this article contains images of people who have died, used with the permission of their families.
"All cases are under investigation by North West Hospital and Health Service and I expect to be informed of the findings," Ms D'Ath said in a statement to Four Corners.
"I would also expect any allegations about the standard of care delivered at Doomadgee Hospital to be investigated."
After being contacted by Four Corners, the Queensland coroner announced late last week that an inquest has been scheduled for July to examine the three deaths, "the adequacy of the care and treatment received, and any missed opportunities generally for the prevention and awareness of RHD/acute rheumatic fever".
"The coroner recognises that RHD is 100 per cent preventable and is almost exclusively a disease of poverty and social disadvantage," a spokesperson said in a statement.
'People are suffering'
The Queensland Health Ombudsman is also investigating complaints by whistleblower staff about the provision of health services in Doomadgee. The whistleblowers accuse the local primary health care provider of cutting costs at the expense of patient care.
A complaint to the Health Ombudsman obtained by Four Corners says there is no GP at Doomadgee's primary healthcare clinic, Gidgee Healing. The clinic is instead run by a nurse who is expected to diagnose health conditions and prescribe medications.
"This may be seen as cost-cutting at the expense of people's lives," the complaint said.
"Some of the diagnoses are arrived at by looking at photos.
"This leaves me and my colleagues questioning many missed diagnosis [sic] and errors in diagnosing ailments and illnesses using this method that Gidgee had proposed to save on cost."
The complaint said children with RHD and anaemia, and young people with sexually transmitted infections were not being treated.
"There was a severe case of medical neglect of a child … who was not attended to by a doctor because Gidgee had no doctor," the whistleblower said.
"The residents are suffering because they do not have a doctor to assess and treat them."
Four Corners has established that at last count, 32 of the 60 RHD patients at Doomadgee did not receive their last, essential, monthly penicillin injection.
There was also no child health nurse in the town for many months, leading to, whistleblower staff say, many of the town's children being behind in their immunisations.
Correspondence from the Queensland Health Ombudsman confirms that it commenced an investigation into numerous issues at Gidgee Healing, including whether primary healthcare services in Doomadgee had adequate staff, were complying with infection control requirements, and were appropriately managing patients.
Gidgee Healing, which is based in Mount Isa, has been funded by Queensland Health to take over from Doomadgee Hospital many of the primary healthcare services in the community, including child health and chronic disease management, such as making sure that Doomadgee's many RHD patients get their monthly injections and make appointments to hospitals outside of the town.
But the complaint said "people are suffering in this community because of gross mismanagement" and understaffing.
"Something needs to happen before it is too late,' it said.
Gidgee Healing said in a statement it was "deeply saddened by the death of any community member in Doomadgee" and acknowledged "the pain and suffering of their families and friends".
It said healthcare issues in the region are often "extremely complex".
"Attracting and retaining permanent health care professionals in remote communities is extremely difficult and one of our biggest challenges to delivering health care," the statement read.
"Despite this serious challenge we have continued to provide health services with the available resources including telehealth appointments."
'Efficiencies' place pressure on health care
Four Corners has also been provided with another complaint to the Queensland Health Ombudsman by a whistleblower about the management practices and standards of care at Doomadgee Hospital.
The complaint raised concerns about unqualified staff working at the hospital, including, it alleged, a 17-year-old university student working as an assistant in nursing who was supervising medication.
It also alleged professional misconduct at the hospital, including bullying of staff, particularly those who trained overseas and needed visas.
The Health Ombudsman's notice of a decision said the complaints had been referred to the local area health service for further investigation.
In a report into one of the women's deaths, locals accused the hospital of treating them "like dogs".
Some relatives of the women told Four Corners they avoid the facility altogether.
"I don't go to that hospital. I suffer with toothache. I don't go," Adele Sandy's sister, Chaslyn Diamond, said.
Chaslyn's mother Eunice will not go there either.
"I'm that frightened to go to the hospital. I don't go there," she said.
"Because they don't attend to you or say hello to you or ask you what you want or what can they do for us. They are very rude."
Healthcare professionals in the north-west region had warned for years about lack of resources for hospitals from the health department.
In emails obtained by Four Corners under Queensland's Right to Information legislation, the local North West Area Hospital and Health Service board repeatedly questioned Queensland's Health's insistence on budget savings.
"The efficiencies can only be achieved through cost reduction in other areas of the health service," they wrote.
"This continues to place pressure on Health Care in the North West region and would appear inequitable to our community."
The emails described that community as "a remote region … with high levels of chronic disease and the high and increasing burden of socio-economic disadvantage".
In June 2021, members of the board were shocked when they were sacked by Health Minister Yvette D'Ath, who cited concerns about financial management.
"Since being made aware of sustainable governance and financial management issues at North West HHS in 2021, I announced the appointment of an administrator in place of its board," Ms D'Ath said in her statement to Four Corners.
She did not elaborate further on what the problems were.
