Doctors hit back at ‘racist’ outrage over Indigenous patients being fast-tracked for treatment
Leading doctors have hit back at mounting outrage over a Melbourne hospital’s policy to prioritise Indigenous patients in its emergency department.
For the last 19 months, Indigenous patients who present to Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital emergency department have been automatically assigned a minimum category three triage and must be attended to within 30 minutes.
While many have welcomed the policy aimed at improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians, critics have claimed that it amounts to discrimination, could fuel division and undermine confidence in the healthcare system.
Columnists Andrew Bolt and Rita Panahi likened the policy to an ‘apartheid’, before Indigenous activist and prominent Voice ‘No’ campaigner Warren Mundine joined the pile-on.
‘We aren’t asking for that, we’re asking to be treated like everyone else,’ he told The Herald Sun last month.
‘This is where governments try and do nice things and you wind up with idiot policies.’
The criticism prompted Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association to joined forces with Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians to condemn the ‘divisive and racist’ comments.
In a joint statement, the medical bodies slammed the backlash as ‘opportunistic, uninformed and deeply concerning’.
St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne stands by its policy to fast-track the treatment of Indigenous patients
Leading doctors have endorsed the hospital’s move following public backlash
‘This policy is Closing the Gap in action and is a response to the well-documented disparities in health outcomes and access to timely care experienced by First Nations peoples,’ AIDA acting president Dr Olivia O’Donoghue said.
‘Any attitude to the contrary undermines the work being done to create a culturally safe hospital system that ensures Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people receive equitable access to excellent and safe healthcare.’
ACEM Fellow and emergency specialist Dr Glenn Harrison added: ‘The triage initiative is a practical, evidence-based measure that helps close the gap in access without disadvantaging anyone else.
‘It’s a step toward a more just, equitable and culturally safe health system.’
The bodies stand by the hospital, which has closed the gap in ED wait times between First Nations and non-Indigenous patients.
Previously, Indigenous patients were three times more likely to leave the ED without being seen and were waiting on average, three times longer than others.
The Australian Human Rights Commission identified racism in healthcare as a key contributor to poor health outcomes.
Hospital chief executive Nicole Tweddle strongly defended the policy which she insists has had no impact on overall ED flow.
Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association acting president said the policy is about creating equity, not preferential treatment
‘Patients presenting with a serious or life-threatening emergency – regardless of their background – will always be seen first. That’s what ED triage is designed to do,’ she said in a statement.
‘We’re not ignoring medical urgency. We’re simply addressing the factors that were causing First Nations patients to be waiting three times longer than everyone else in our ED.
‘We have fewer patients in hospital beds they don’t need; fewer patients having their treatment start again. and fewer patients coming back much sicker than they were.’
The backlash also prompted Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan to support the policy.
‘St Vincent’s is putting in place an initiative that supports the principle of treating… the sickest patients quickest,’ she told reporters.
‘When you have better outcomes for every health outcomes for everyone, that’s good for our strong, healthy community.’
