Victoria’s health minister says an investigation has confirmed that 10 hospital staff posed as “fake patients” during her visit to a regional care clinic last year, including one who arrived by ambulance.
Mary-Anne Thomas said the deception had been arranged to make the clinic appear more busy.
The minister on Wednesday released the findings of a health department investigation into the episode at Colac area health’s urgent care clinic on 9 August 2023.
“It has confirmed that staff at Colac area health posed as patients during my visit on that day,” she told reporters.
“These staff members were registered as patients in the urgent care centre registration system. Their registrations were later cancelled after I had left.”
The executive summary confirmed that 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.
“[The staff member] presented as a patient and was triaged by UCC staff, despite not requiring medical treatment,” the summary reads.
Another “occupied a trolley in the back corridor”, it 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.”
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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 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”.
Thomas said it was now up to Colac area health to take action against the staff members involved. She said this could include “counselling, training or indeed disciplinary action”.
Ambulance Victoria is also investigating its involvement in the episode.