Victoria’s health minister, Mary-Anne Thomas, has claimed a “hospital miscommunication” caused a woman with a brain tumour to travel to Adelaide for an urgent medical scan.
Kylie Hennessy travelled to Adelaide last week for a functional MRI (fMRI) scan after she was told she would face a months-long wait in Melbourne.
The 50-year-old required the scan ahead of surgery to remove a brain tumour which was due to take place this week but has been postponed.
Hennessy’s husband, Jason, told 3AW radio the couple had been told the fMRI machines at The Alfred hospital and Royal Melbourne hospital were broken and there was no availability at St Vincent’s hospital until December.
However, Thomas told reporters two of Victoria’s four specialist fMRI machines were “fully functional”, with “work under way” to provide Hennessy with access to another machine at the Florey Institute in Melbourne.
“Unfortunately due to miscommunication from the hospital to Ms Hennessy, the work that was being done to ensure that Ms Hennessy could receive the fMRI at the Florey Institute was not communicated to her in a timely way,” she said.
Thomas said Hennessy would have received the scan within the “clinically approved timeline’” for category one surgery, which is 30 days.
“Before that was able to be communicated she had made her own arrangements to receive the scan,” Thomas said.
She said she was confident fMRI services were available in Victoria for patients who need them.
“The fMRI machine at the Royal Melbourne this year has only been used once and indeed five times in the previous year,” Thomas said.
“It’s a specialist procedure, utilising specialist equipment delivered by healthcare workers who are best in class.”
Thomas also defended the senior government minister Natalie Hutchins, who earlier on Wednesday reflected on her experience watching her late husband receive cancer treatment and suggested the Hennessys “roll with the punches”.
“I really feel for anyone battling or potentially battling cancer and having to undergo these sort of tests; they have a huge cloud over their head,” Hutchins told reporters.
“I know from time to time from personal experience that equipment isn’t available, sometimes it needs to be serviced, sometimes you have a technician who needs to run the machine that’s not available due to illness.
“I don’t know the details of this case in particular, but I do know from my experience in the health system that sometimes you just gotta roll with the punches of what’s going on.”
Hutchins’ comments sparked a swift rebuke from the opposition’s health spokesperson, Georgie Crozier, who said they were indicative of the “dismissive and insulting approach of this government towards Victorians in need of vital health treatment”.
“Daniel Andrews must immediately apologise for these uncaring and shocking remarks made by his minister. Victorians deserve so much better than this,” Crozier said.
Hutchins later took to Twitter to apologise.
“Having been through the pain and uncertainty of fighting cancer with my late husband Steve, I know how distressing and anxious this time is for the Hennessy family,” she said.
“I understand this may have caused some distress and I am sorry that this has happened.”
Thomas said Hutchins did not mean to cause offence.
“I don’t want anyone leaving this press conference thinking that we have anything but great sympathy for the experience Ms Hennessy has had during what is already an incredibly stressful time,” she said.
In a statement, a spokesperson for The Alfred confirmed a fault was detected in its fMRI machine last week, with parts on their way from overseas.
“Contingent on the arrival of parts, we expect the machine to return to operation later this month,” the spokesperson said.
“We apologise to our patient for any anxiety this outage has caused for them, or their family.”
The Hennessys’ experience is the second case to generate significant media attention this week, after reports a Melbourne mother was separated from her premature twins for days immediately after their birth last week.
The twins, born premature at 34 weeks on 5 September, were transferred to Sandringham hospital, about an hour’s drive from Sunshine in the city’s west, while the mother stayed at the hospital.
The mother’s family said she was told the hospital did not have enough staffed cots in the special care nursery available to care for the babies.
Health is expected to be a key theme as Victoria heads to an election in November, with the opposition doggedly pursuing the government on ambulance ramping and overcrowded hospital emergency departments, the lengthy elective surgery waitlist and triple-zero delays that have now been linked to 33 deaths.
