Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital: Insider alleges ‘culture of cover-ups’ as sewage spills go undocumented

A senior maintenance staffer at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital claims a “culture of cover-ups” is leaving serious infrastructure issues unaddressed and putting the public’s health at risk. The worker, who has asked not to be identified, said a special investigation by The West Australian exposing thousands of repair work orders caused by leaks, had uncovered a larger “scandal” in which infrastructure failures — like a sewage pipe burst in August last year in the intensive care unit — were not being treated seriously. “If sh.. can flow through ICU where the most vulnerable patients (are) and we have no paper trail whatsoever, think about it — does that not back up that we have a culture of cover-ups?” the worker said. “That (leak) should have immediately have been reported to the (Health) Department and they should have managed it.” The sewage spill, which sparked a code yellow internal emergency, sent human excrement through the hospital ward and required specialist sanitation services to be called in for clean-up. The Department of Health’s own guidelines for managing sewage and wastewater spills suggests the incident should have been documented. “All sewer overflows into buildings need to be notified to the Department of Health,” the guidelines state. “Upon notification of a wastewater overflow (predominantly by email), DoH will review the information provided including the initial public health risk level. “People may be at a high public health risk level of exposure when wastewater overflows occur into built or land environments with health sensitive occupants.” The North Metropolitan Health Service, which operates Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, confirmed earlier this week that it has no reports or assessments detailing the impact of the sewage leak in ICU, or countless others. “There has been so many sewage leaks. Not only are we apparently not reporting them but for years we apparently haven’t been keeping the records,” the worker said. “What if we end up in court? A patient says ‘I got sick from X, Y, Z, poo exposure, black mould’, how do we defend it? We didn’t document it. “I’m not prepared to write a stat dec or stand up in court and give evidence about one of the hundreds of leaks from God knows how long ago.” In a separate work order at the hospital, just three months after the ICU incident, maintenance staff reported having to: “Replace sewerage pipe work from Lvl 1 to Lvl 2. Sewerage leaks from last 3 days.” The West Australian asked North Metropolitan Health Service if any of the wastewater leaks had been reported to the health department as required by the guidelines. “The August 2024 sewage matter referred to . . . it was a blockage caused by towels ,” a NMHS spokesperson said in a statement. “This matter was swiftly dealt with, the area was cleaned to clinical standards and there was no risk to patients. As it was localised and quickly remedied, the matter was not referred to the Department of Health. “North Metropolitan Health Service has solid processes and robust reporting and review structures in place to ensure adherence to government regulations and policies, and staff are expected to comply.” The hospital’s own maintenance documents shows that it took almost a month for the ICU sewage spill to be rectified. Health Infrastructure Minister John Carey also confirmed earlier this week, the leak was sufficient enough to impact on hospital services. “There was one ICU bed that did close for five days,” he said during a radio interview on Tuesday. “I’m on the record about that. Uh, but that, you know, a work order was issued, a pipe was fixed, and that bed came back into order.” In follow-up questions, Mr Carey was asked whether he was concerned about the lack of governance and record-keeping by his department and if he agreed with its decision not to report the sewage leaks in breach of its own guidelines. In a statement, he said: “Reporting between Health Service Providers and the Department of Health is an operational matter. I expect all agencies to comply with relevant guidelines. The sewerage spill was dealt with swiftly and the work order close-out date refers to the finalisation of administrative matters.” The West’s ‘Hospital of Horrors’ special investigation first broke on Tuesday — exposing the backlog of more than 1000 work orders at the near 70-year-old facility. Leaking “radioactive waste”, costly damage to equipment and “black mould” were among the reported hazards threatening patient and staff safety. On Wednesday, new revelations came to light that water-testing results from the hospital showed vulnerable patients were unknowingly put at risk of contracting potentially deadly legionnaires’ disease. Legionella bacteria, which causes the serious pneumonia-like respiratory infection, had been found at unacceptable levels almost 60 times over the past two years. One water result was hundreds of times above the acceptable level.