Bundaberg Hospital defends doctor plagued by complaints HOSPITAL administrators are standing behind a doctor at Bundaberg Base Hospital who has been the subject of nine complaints in his first two years. The complaints about Dr Richard Hocking since he started have been logged under the hospital’s clinical incident reporting system and revealed in Right to Information papers. But Health Minister Cameron Dick yesterday refused to answer questions about Dr Hocking’s employment. Heavily redacted documents obtained by The Courier-Mail show concerns over Dr Hocking’s knee-replacement surgeries sparked a departmental audit that found “no adverse indications for Dr Hocking’s patients”. Of the complaints involving his work in Bundaberg, one was reported as a “severity assessment code one” event, which is a mistake that results in the permanent harm or death of a patient. Another complaint was reported as a “severity assessment code two event”, which is a mishap that results in temporary harm. Most of the complaints concerned Dr Hocking’s “communication style”, the documents say. A Wide Bay Hospital and Health spokeswoman yesterday declined to answer questions about what actions, if any, had been taken as a result of the complaints, but she said the hospital had “full confidence” in its surgical team. Health Minister Cameron Dick yesterday refused to answer questions about Dr Hocking’s employment. Picture: Steve Pohlner Dr Hocking, who was contacted for comment, joined the hospital as a staff orthopedic surgeon in January 2016 following a series of “locum stints” after leaving his practice in Canberra. A search of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency database yesterday showed Dr Hocking’s medical registration was now without restrictions. He has previously been investigated by the medical watchdog, who at one point had recorded 44 complaints against him. During ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal proceedings against him, Dr Hocking said at the time the medical watchdog was investigating 44 complaints against him. The tribunal was told “only a small proportion of those cases resulted in adverse findings”. Dr Hocking has also had his registration temporarily suspended and was previously banned from performing certain operations without supervision. He was still a restricted practitioner when he started locum work with Bundaberg Base Hospital in June 2015. Mr Dick yesterday said: “I have confidence in the governance arrangements in place across our state’s Hospital and Health Services and in the capacity of state and national complaints bodies to respond appropriately to any issues about clinicians when they are raised.” A Wide Bay Hospital and Health spokeswoman said the hospital’s orthopedic surgery team was reporting clinical outcomes that were “better than expected” and was “one of the best performers across the state on elective surgery benchmarks”. Source
