Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital: Morgue’s door left broken for months putting bodies, documents at risk

Sensitive medical documents and even the bodies of deceased patients have been at risk of unauthorised access for months due to a major, unaddressed maintenance issue. According to staff, a broken automatic entry door leading to the PathWest-run State Mortuary at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in the QEII Medical Centre has not been closing securely for nearly three months, despite multiple maintenance requests for repairs. “Anyone can walk right off the street and straight into what should be the most secure place in the hospital,” a medical worker at the hospital, who asked to remain anonymous, said. “If you walked in you could come across a body because that’s where the deceased are first brought in. “It’s where all the patient files and sometimes police documents are kept if the death is suspicious or a murder.” The door is located in a service area just off the main thoroughfare and is the entry point used by hospital staff to transfer the bodies of patients from the wards. A photo obtained by the West Australian shows an “out of order” sign attached to the entrance. “Please note, left-hand side door needs to be physically held open when using for trolley access,” it says. “Also make sure both doors are secure when finished.” According to the hospital worker, senior management at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital attended to the damaged door and maintenance staff had begun inspections within an hour of The West Australian sending questions to North Metropolitan Health Service and PathWest. “They absolutely know that this should have been a priority for repairs from day one,” the worker said. “There were murmurs that a member of the public had gone wandering into the building but I personally haven’t had a chance to talk to the staff down there to check.” In a statement, a PathWest spokesperson said it had a “small number” of faults relating to automatic doors to the admissions area of the mortuary. “Management controls have been immediately applied where faults are identified, to ensure the ongoing security of the mortuary,” they said. “Door replacement works have already been approved and will be underway shortly. The area has enhanced monitoring via CCTV — security of this sensitive area remains a priority.” The incident comes a week after The West’s “Hospital of Horrors” special investigation first broke — exposing the backlog of more than 1000 work orders at the near 70-year-old hospital. Leaking “radioactive waste”, damaged equipment and “black mould” make up the volume of issues caused by the crumbling infrastructure. Regular water testing at the hospital also showed vulnerable patients were unknowingly put at risk of contracting potentially deadly Legionnaires’ disease from contaminated water. 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. The Cook Government went on the defence — backing its spending on health for days on end as hospital whistleblowers and fed-up hospital staff came forward to shine a light on the conditions. In response, Premier Roger Cook announced a $50 million maintenance funding injection for Sir Charles Gairdner, Royal Perth and Armadale Hospitals, with a review to be held into overall maintenance. It wasn’t enough to stop the pile-on from the opposition in Parliament. On Tuesday, Shadow Attorney General Nick Goiran continued the Opposition’s pursuit for transparency over the reported “radioactive water” leak at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in March 2023 and gave notice of his intention to order the production of documents. The motion, which will go to a parliamentary vote in the upper house next month, would force the Cook Government to hand over documentation relating to the incident if successfully passed. On Wednesday, it was Health Minister Meredith Hammat under pressure, asked during question time whether she had received notification of the unsafe legionella detections at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and whether any patients had been placed on precautionary antibiotics as a result of exposure. “Legionella is a matter that’s managed in our health service providers, managed at a hospital level as you’d expect,” she said. “They have programs for the monitoring of legionella in our hospitals and my expectation is that they will deal with that as an operational issue.” Ms Hammat didn’t say whether she was alerted to the positive detection or whether any patients had been given precautionary treatment.