Fake patients filling an urgent care clinic were congratulated by the pol’s wife, who is an employee of the regional health service.
The wife of Victorian Liberal MP Richard Riordan has been revealed as the organiser of last August’s “fake patients” stunt at Colac Area Health’s urgent care clinic.
During a 9 August 2023 visit by Victorian health minister Mary-Anne Thomas, healthy staff members posed as patients in ward beds and ambulance trolleys to make the UCC look busier than it was.
In February Mr Riordan, the opposition spokesman for emergency services and housing, clashed with his party’s leader John Pesutto, who was critical of the CAH stunt. Mr Riordan said at the time CAH was just trying to demonstrate “capacity constraints”.
According to the Herald Sun, Catherine Riordan works at CAH in a “community engagement and communications role” and played a key role in organising the fake patients. In an email, she later congratulated staff on the “beautifully choreographed performance”.
According to the ABC, one staff member with a fake injury occupied a trolley, while at least one ambulance was organised to arrive with a fake patient during Ms Thomas’ visit.
The Herald Sun reported today that it had been leaked part of a report from an internal investigation into the incident. According to that partial leak, Ms Riordan admitted to telling staff that if the CAH facility wasn’t going to be full on the day of the visit “then they were going to fill it with staff”.
“In country towns, it is commonplace that when a VIP is coming, you fill the venue,” she was quoted as telling the investigation.
As a result of the investigation 10 staff members who posed as patients in the urgent care clinic “will be counselled”. Ambulance Victoria is holding its own investigation into reports at least one ambulance presented a fake patient.
Mr Riordan told the Herald Sun: “I will not be commenting further on this matter until the report is publicly released in full by the Minister for Health.”
A statement from the Department of Health was reported as saying:
“The investigation has found that while there was no impact to patient care, there could have been, and that the incident was inappropriate and does not align with our expectations under the Health Services Act or the Victorian Public Sector (VPS) Code of Conduct.”
Colac Area Health interim CEO Steve Moylan apologised for the stunt and said the organisation was “committed to improving”.
“We are sorry for what occurred in the Urgent Care Centre, it is highly regrettable and we’ve accepted all recommendations from the independent investigation,” he told the ABC.
“While the investigation found there was no impact to patient care, we know the incident posed a potential risk and that’s something we will ensure doesn’t happen again.”
Fiona Brew, who was CEO at the time of the incident, stepped down for six months as a result of the investigation.
A Victorian government spokesperson told HSD today that: “It would not be appropriate to comment on specific individuals involved while Colac Area Health is conducting its internal review.”