In a meeting that brought more than 100 Emmaville residents to the Emmaville Memorial Hall in support of recently-suspended local GP Dr John Liu, the community expressed its concern for the safety of local patients without a practicing doctor.
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“It is grossly unfair to us and to Dr Liu,” one resident said.
Hunter New England Health’s (HNEH) Dr Peter Finlayson and Wendy Mulligan, who attended the meeting to answer the community’s concerns, said Dr Liu’s suspension is only within the hospital system under the governance of HNEH, with the local GP still allowed access to his private rooms at the Emmaville Hospital.
According to Dr Finlayson, Dr Liu has two distinct roles in Emmaville: as a visiting medical officer and general practitioner.
Responding to queries over the GP’s suspension, Dr Finlayson said there have been “a considerable number of concerns” regarding Dr Liu’s clinical practice that have called for independent investigation.
While Dr Finlayson said he would not provide comment on confidential matters or speculate on the independent investigation currently underway, he said one of the big issues concerning Dr Liu was “ensuring patient safety”.
“There are enough things that the community has not seen that are really concerning,” Dr Finlayson said during the meeting.
Ms Mulligan attested to having personally witnessed incidents of concerning clinical practice.
Responding to concerns from the floor in regard to liability in the case of a medical emergency, Dr Finlayson said the decision to suspend Dr Liu was tough and was not the preferred course of action, but said there was considerable evidence of a number of incidents of unsafe practice that required further investigation and that in the event of a medical emergency where Dr Liu was required, Hunter New England Health would assume responsibility for patients in need of care.
Among issues raised were allusions to racial prejudice and bullying, as well as a number of reports of questionable practice by nursing staff at the Emmaville medical facility.
“Bullying and racial prejudice is not accepted, full-stop,” Dr Finlayson said.
“We do not tolerate it. It is as simple as that.”
Responding to questions regarding nursing staff, with a number of reports of patients being advised to transport themselves to Glen Innes District Hospital, Dr Finlayson commented during the meeting that given the information provided, there have been incidents of unacceptable practice.
Following the meeting, he said, “It is difficult when you have a public meeting providing bits and pieces of information without dates and context, however Hunter New England Health has been able to start tracking specific incidents.”
Both Dr Finlayson and Ms Mulligan invited residents and patients to raise concerns through appropriate avenues and said that in every case, investigations would be taken seriously with appropriate processes to identify incidents of malpractice.
As the investigation into Dr Liu’s clinical practice continues under the coordination of a practicing doctor outside the Northern Tablelands and an independent representative from Hunter New England Health, Ms Mulligan said the investigation team will be ensuring procedural fairness for Dr Liu and urged the community to be patient.
While some of those present said they feared the community meeting was largely unsuccessful, Dr Finlayson said it had achieved a lot, providing the community with as much information as possible as the investigation continues.
Dr Finlayson maintained that the investigation was in the interest of providing the best possible service and ensuring patient safety and said that, in the event of finding Dr Liu as being safe to practice, he would be exonerated and allowed to return to his duties as a visiting medical officer in Emmaville almost immediately.
Dr John Liu was not available for comment before going to press.
