Dead people booked for surgeries in NT public hospitals, AMA says
Dead people are being booked for operations in the Northern Territory's public hospitals in the latest issue for the $335 million Acacia patient record system, the peak body for doctors has revealed.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has reported that deceased individuals are being scheduled for surgeries in Northern Territory public hospitals due to shortcomings in the $335 million Acacia IT system. The AMA, representing doctors, is advocating for the removal of Acacia's clinical information functions. The peak body for doctors has disclosed this issue in its second submission to a parliamentary inquiry, highlighting additional problems with the Acacia patient record system.
In its submission, the AMA expresses concern over doctors' reluctance to address Acacia's issues due to confidentiality concerns and the fear of losing their jobs, describing this as a "chilling effect". The surgical services sector is particularly affected by Acacia's failures, with doctors uncertain about how the system erroneously books deceased patients for operations.
AMA NT branch president John Zorbas spoke about the extensive audit process implemented to rectify the dead patient issue, stating that doctors had to divert from their regular duties to fix the problem. Zorbas criticized Acacia for not fully replacing the functions of the old systems, necessitating the continued use of legacy systems. He likened the situation to having multiple applications open simultaneously for a single process.
The Acacia project, initiated in 2016, aimed to consolidate multiple legacy patient record systems into one, but it has fallen short of its budgetary targets and is only partially complete. This has led to the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry in February 2025. The AMA's submission notes that doctors have not had confidence in reporting issues confidentially due to fears of retaliation from NT Health, the Department of Corporate of Digital Development, or whistleblower structures.
Furthermore, the AMA submission suggests that the Acacia system should be retooled as a patient administration system, focusing solely on hospital logistics, names, and appointments. This change would remove Acacia's clinical information functions. AMA NT branch president John Zorbas emphasized the impracticality of expecting a single system to effectively manage all medical domains, given the Territory's small size and budget.
He noted that the idea of one system covering all areas, from primary to tertiary care, was "gargantuan" and "doomed from the start".
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