Whistleblower sounds off

By Rebecca Fraser
THE whistle has been blown on Casey Hospital with news its emergency call system is not up to scratch.
News surfaced this week that nurses in the operating theatre and recovery room at the Kangan Drive hospital have been forced to use whistles because the emergency call sound was not loud enough in some sections of the hospital.
The issue surfaced on Monday when a caller rang up Melbourne radio station 3AW and spilled the beans on the situation.
Casey hospital executive director Peter Faulkner said the hospital’s emergency call system was working well across the hospital, but there were a couple of hard-to-hear spots as a result of increased utilisation and noise around the hospital.
“Work started on upgrading the system (on Tuesday),” he said.
“As an interim additional safety measure, staff have been carrying whistles. The upgraded system should be operational in the next week.”
Opposition health spokesperson Helen Shardey has dubbed the situation farcical.
“To think that in this day and age in a country like Australia we are operating with a third-world system,” she said.
“The Government has failed over the past 12 months to replace and repair the emergency system at Casey Hospital.
“I am horrified to think that this is occurring and the duty of care here needs to be taken seriously.”
Ms Shardey said hospital staff had recently spoken to her about the matter.
“Whistleblowers, pardon the pun, have been forced to bring this issue to attention because they are very upset about the situation,” she said.
“What if someone is given a general anaesthetic and goes into cardiac arrest or has respiratory failure and the proper alert system is not in place?
“Most people think it (the whistles) is a joke, but it is not funny.”