Statement to 60 Minutes
14 April 2025
Healthscope’s team of highly trained and dedicated clinicians are committed to provided outstanding patient care across our 38 hospitals every day. That passion and commitment is evident in our hospitals’ industry-leading patient feedback and net promotor scores.
Healthscope offers emergency departments in eight of its hospitals, and these departments are regularly assessed and accredited against the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards.
Our emergency departments also meet or exceed the national average for quality and safety performance, as measured by Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) Clinical Indicator Program, on a range of key clinical measures. We care for nearly 150,000 patients in our emergency departments each year, with the vast majority receiving timely and compassionate care.
Regrettably, we acknowledge that there can be times, though they are rare, when our patient care and outcomes do not meet the standards we set for ourselves or the standard expected by the public.
One such tragic incident was the case of 22 month old Joe Massa, who tragically passed away following treatment at the Northern Beaches Hospital ED. There were unacceptable failings in the treatment of Joe, and we are unreservedly sorry that Joe did not receive the care he deserved in our hospital. We have apologised to the Massa family, and we have accepted all findings and recommendations of the Serious Adverse Event Review. We will fully cooperate with the multiple inquiries that are looking into the circumstances surrounding Joe’s death.
We have also expressed our deepest sympathies to the families of Antoinette O’Brien and James Tsindos. Ms O’Brien passed away in 2017 after presenting at Holmesglen Private Hospital. The Coroner’s inquest into Ms O’Brien’s passing provided a range of recommendations regarding sepsis awareness across all EDs, which Healthscope has implemented in full. However the Coroner found that sadly there was no nursing or medical management that could have been undertaken that would have prevented Ms O’Brien’s death.
The coronial inquest into the tragic death of James Tsindos in May 2021 is yet to report its findings. Healthscope is fully cooperating with the inquest and is committed to implementing any recommendations made by the Coroner when the finding is handed down.
-ends-
For more information contact:
media@healthscope.com.au
