One of the Canberra orthopedic surgeons who missed out on being selected for a contract with ACT Health has alleged that the selection process is unfair. Two of the orthopedic surgeons were given contracts to work as visiting medical officers (VMO) in ACT Health. These doctors were colleagues of some members of the selection panel. The question of conflict of interest on these grounds was raised by the two unsuccessful candidates. One of them was Dr Paul Miniter.
According to Health Minister Katy Gallagher, she would support her Department’s choice of panel members and assured that all potential conflicts of interest were declared.
Dr. Miniter said, “Whether the chair of the panel feels that such a conflict of interest has been managed is in my opinion immaterial…The process must be transparent. It must be fair not only for the point of view of the interviewing panel but also for the people who are sitting the interview. If you turn up for an interview like this and you see two members of a group that are directly in opposition to you in practice in Canberra it does seem like a slanted process.”
Dr. Miniter was refused a meeting with Ms Gallagher. He has now requested for an external review. He said, “In the business world this sort of single interview with a perceived conflict of interest followed by a single internal review, would not be regarded as reasonable…This has been our stance all along…It's an internal review. An internal review is not something that can be regarded as an objective process.”
Ms Gallagher retaliated to these claims saying that Canberra had a small number of specialists and finding panel members without connections is difficult. Dr Miniter disagrees with this saying, “There are at least two orthopedic surgeons that I can think of in one second who are not part of that group…One of whom is retired and one of whom has a separate practice, who have no conflict of interest and would have been very happy to sit on that committee…They should have co-opt individuals with orthopedic experience who were not perceived to have any conflict of interest, and there is no doubt that there are people of that type in this territory.”
Opposition spokesman Jeremy Hanson says it shows a breakdown in the process. He said, “The area really seems to be with the Department who’ve allowed the situation to occur.” More information on the issue is needed he said. The Healthcare Consumers’ Association add that the situation reinforces the importance of transparency. Spokesman Russell McGowan said, “We do think there needs to be transparent processes, that any potential conflicts of interest are properly declared and dealt with… We’re not entirely sure that this occurred in this occasion but we think in future it should.”
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