Update on Independent Review of Reportable Deaths and Death Reporting Processes
21 May 2024
I am today publicly releasing the letter from Adjunct Professor Deb Picone AO that outlines the findings and recommendations from the initial review, and confirming the Department of Health’s support of her Panel’s recommendations.
The Department established an independent panel in February 2024 to investigate allegations of a failure to report some deaths to the Coroner.
The Panel has undertaken significant work and identified six deaths which it recommended be referred for consideration by the Coroner.
The Department of Health has referred these six matters to the Coroner and is progressing with an open disclosure process with affected families, if the families accept this offer. Through this process, we are committed to providing families with the information and support that they require.
While the panel has advised that they have not observed any practices or evidence that there is a systemic issue, all of these cases were originally assessed by a single former staff member, who is no longer employed by the Department of Health.
The Panel will now examine an additional 63 matters to date that were originally assessed by the single former staff member.
As outlined in the letter, the personal health information of individual patients will not be released publicly as this would be insensitive and contrary to the Personal Information Protection Act 2004.
We are committed to supporting any families and individuals who may be affected by this process. If you have concerns, you can contact the Department of Health in the following ways, with all information treated very seriously and properly investigated.
-
Through the Department of Health website at Reporting Concerns of Inappropriate Behaviour Form (health.tas.gov.au), either anonymously or with your details. This information comes directly to the Department of Health’s Office of the Secretary and is confidentially recorded for review.
