Federal and state health ministers recently launched a crackdown on the cosmetic surgery industry following media investigation of hundreds of patient injuries. These injuries included septic shock, lacerated livers, disfigured faces and near-death experiences. But healthcare injuries are not limited to the notoriously ill-regulated cosmetic surgery industry. Most healthcare injuries never make headlines, get reported or compensated. Please keep sharing the petition
 
After more than two decades of inaction, there is still no way of knowing the compensation outcomes for injured patients. In 1995 the Hawke Labor Government’s Professional Indemnity Review (PIR) [1] reported that, of an estimated 230,000 "preventable" healthcare injuries each year, fewer than 2,000 resulted in negligence claims, and the vast majority were won by health professionals. This suggests that fewer than 1% of healthcare injuries were compensated.
 
The extent and cost of healthcare injuries affect us all. A 2011 Treasury discussion paper stated that medical treatment injuries were the third largest category of catastrophic injuries, representing 11% [2]. The 2018 Grattan Institute’s report, All complications should count , estimated that each year there are 140,000 priority Hospital Acquired Complications (HAC), and 900,000 complications of any kind [3].
 
The Victorian Managed Insurance Authority (VMIA) estimates that about 10% of hospital inpatients are affected by one or more adverse events, with half (5%) considered preventable – representing 15% of total hospital activity and expenditure in Australia ($2 billion annually). “Only a small proportion of adverse events leads to medical indemnity claims, which means that patients and health care organisations are bearing the financial burden. For patients, this means their capacity to participate fully in social, cultural and economic life is reduced as their health and finances suffer. And this cost burden is… distributed to other public agencies or to the wider economy. The cost of failing to prevent harm dwarfs the cost of preventing it in the first place” [4].
 
Victorian health services report around 3,500 incidents to VMIA each year, with about 500 of these identified as potential medical indemnity claims. Only 250 result in a claim. Although health services must report adverse incidents to the insurer, only 8% of claims data correlate with an incident report. For incidents reported by hospitals, the average delay between an adverse event and the date of notification is 3 years! “Late and non-reporting both make it difficult to identify patterns in medical indemnity claims and work with health services on early intervention and support”.
 
This means that the health system is by and large not learning from its mistakes, or the lessons are learned too late to be of use for people who are injured in the meantime. As injured patients, we find this information distressing because it means that our health system is failing to save patients from the burden of preventable harm each day.
 
National healthcare incident and compensation claim data is lacking or non-existent. In 2015 the AIHW abandoned collecting and reporting the Medical Indemnity National Collection (MINC) data on healthcare compensation outcomes, after funding was cut. The last report (2012-2013), showed there were about 14,000 open claims. Over a five-year period, nearly half the claims were discontinued, i.e., failed [5]. Nearly 30 years after the PIR report, we still have gaping holes in the reporting of healthcare injuries and compensation claim outcomes.  
 
The Australian health system has been severely stressed by the coronavirus pandemic. Doctors and other healthcare staff have been under extreme pressure, and when people are under pressure, errors occur. Australians place their trust in Australia’s health system. If they are injured, they are entitled to acknowledgement and compensation. When mistakes occur, they need to be counted and shared, so that the lessons are learned promptly. Healthcare injury claims data is a vital resource for improving patient safety. Funding for the MINC project needs to be restored. We need reliable data to drive down healthcare injuries and address our archaic, unfair compensation system that continues the harm for injured patients.
 
We are humbled by your support. Please continue to share our petition to fix the broken healthcare compensation system. If you have signed and shared, please consider chipping in a few dollars to help grow this petition.
 
In gratitude
Sarah and Vickie

References:
[1] Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health, 1995. Review of Professional Indemnity Arrangements for Healthcare Professionals: Compensation and Professional Indemnity in Healthcare, [Tito F, chairman]. Final Report.Canberra. https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/sites/default/files/migrated/ftitopir.pdf
[2]https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-03/Document-1-11.pdf  Accessed: 10.08.2022
[3] All complications should count, https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/897-All-complications-should-count.pdf accessed: 10.08.2022.
[4] VMIA, Better Patient Safety Strategy 2020-24, accessed at: https://www.vmia.vic.gov.au/-/media/Internet/Content-Documents/Risk/harm-prevention/Better-Patient-Safety-Strategy-2020-2024.ashx?rev=e983e012dc4f4bada5974eeb60395aab&la=en&hash=2BA0AB7F3C9E916382F194D813926C6B4A18FEA5
[5] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2014. Australia’s medical indemnity claims 2012–13. Safety and quality of healthcare series no. 15. Cat. No. HSE 149. Canberra. https://www.aihw.gov.au/getmedia/27797a0e-490e-4ef9-bf63-91917fca7208/17533.pdf.aspx?inline=true