By: Mark Parton
The Canberra Liberals have accused the Government of admitting to a critical failure in infection control protocols after a confirmed measles case was not isolated on arrival at Canberra Hospital, despite measles being one of the most contagious airborne diseases.
Details revealed through a response to a Question taken on Notice by the Minister for Health, confirm that required escalation processes broke down, with “competing operational priorities” blamed for alerts to the nursing navigator and triage team did not occur. As a result, emergency department staff were not properly prepared, and the patient entered a general waiting area rather than being immediately isolated.
Simply, the protocols that are supposed to keep patients and staff safe, failed.
Shadow Minister for Health and Canberra Liberals Leader, Mark Parton said the admission exposes a serious operating failure in the system.
“This is a textbook failure of the system. When a suspected measles case presents, there is one job: identify early and isolate immediately. That did not happen.”
“The Government can’t hide behind process language; this was a failure at the front door of our hospital system.”
Mr Parton said the Minister’s reliance on masks and PPE misses the point, with immediate isolation being the primary safeguard for airborne diseases like measles.
Importantly, the response provided by the Minister highlights that regardless of “parallel notifications to the ED, Public Health and the Infectious Diseases consultant” the protocols were not initiated immediately and identified a clear breakdown in communications.
“If infection control protocols only work when the hospital isn’t busy, then they don’t work at all,” Mr Parton said.
“Canberrans have a right to expect that even under pressure, the system protects them from preventable exposure.”
Serious questions remain about how long the patient was in a shared waiting area, with conflicting accounts yet to be explained.
The Canberra Liberals are calling for an independent review, mandatory pre-alert protocols, real-time Digital Health Record alerts, guaranteed isolation capacity, and full public transparency.
“This isn’t about hindsight; it’s about fixing a system failure before it happens again.”
After 25 years of Labor, Canberrans are worse off when it comes to Health and Hospitals.