The Opposition has confirmed a major surgical incident has happened in Queensland.

The wrong person had the wrong operation.

As a result, this person has died or has been seriously harmed.

This is an incredibly serious situation.

The incident occurred in 2019/20.

According to the report, Queensland is the only state in the nation where this happened and yet the State Government has never made this public before.

The Queensland Health Crisis is affecting real people every day and yet the State Government is refusing to provide any further information.

Queenslanders deserve to know how this happened and what is being done to ensure it never happens again.

-ENDS-

Note to media: See the link to the report here and follow the link below to Table 12A.39.

• 12 Public hospitals data tables (XLSX – 740 Kb)

Table 12A.39 Sentinel events, public hospitals (a), (b)
Unit NSW Vic Qld WA SA Tas ACT NT Aust
2019-20
Surgery or other invasive procedure performed on the wrong site resulting in serious harm or death no. – – – 1 – 1 – – 2
Surgery or other invasive procedure performed on the wrong patient resulting in serious harm or death no. – – 1 – – – – – 1
Wrong surgical or other invasive procedure performed on a patient resulting in serious harm or death no. – – – – – – – – –
Unintended retention of a foreign object in a patient after surgery or other invasive procedure resulting in serious harm or death no. 1 2 1 1 2 – – – 7
Haemolytic blood transfusion reaction resulting from ABO incompatibility resulting in serious harm or death no. – – – – – – – – –
Suspected suicide of a patient in an acute psychiatric unit or acute psychiatric ward no. 2 8 3 2 – – – – 15
Medication error resulting in serious harm or death no. 3 13 2 2 1 3 1 – 25
Use of physical or mechanical restraint resulting in serious harm or death no. – 1 1 – 1 – – – 3
Discharge or release of an infant or child to an unauthorised person no. – – – – – – – – –
Use of an incorrectly positioned oro- or naso- gastric tube resulting in serious harm or death no. 3 – – – 1 – – – 4
Total events no. 9 24 8 6 5 4 1 – 57

– Nil or rounded to zero.

Data are comparable (subject to caveats) across jurisdictions and over time.
Data are complete (subject to caveats) for the current reporting period.

(a) Australian health ministers agreed version 2 of the Australian sentinel events list in December 2018. All jurisdictions implemented these categories on 1 July 2019.
(b) Sentinel event data for prior years, reported against the previous version of the Australian sentinel events list, are available in earlier editions of this Report.

Source: State and Territory governments (unpublished).