CEO admits to relying on staff summaries in dismissal
TOWNSVILLE: Townsville Hospital and Health Service chief executive Kieran Keyes says he stands by his decision to sack senior specialist Dr Arjun Chavan over alleged time sheet irregularities and serious misconduct.
The Queensland Industrial Relations Commission heard that Professor Keyes admitted he relied on a summary table prepared by his staff, having never looked at the detailed response submitted by Dr Chavan himself.
The tribunal heard the CEO was unconcerned that an external forensic audit by KPMG was deliberately denied access to evidence that could have cleared the doctor’s name – patient clinical records and CCTV footage.
It was also revealed that Prof Keyes had previously awarded Dr Chavan a Staff Excellence Award for his work on “MaskHelper” – a pandemic AI safety tool part-owned by the hospital and hailed by the CEO as a significantly valuable product.
The program uses AI to help clinicians get a proper fit for their masks.
Despite this Prof Keyes used Dr Chavan’s off site work on this exact project to help justify the firing, claiming in his formal dismissal letter that the doctor never had approval from his manager, Dr Andrew Clift, to work remotely
That claim evaporated under cross-examination when the CEO was shown a written email where Dr Clift explicitly approved the offsite MaskHelper work, replying: “Sure thing”.
Prof Keyes conceded he had not seen this email and said he was never told about the approval before he signed the termination letter.
It was also revealed that in the official suspension letter penned by Prof Keyes to justify the initial suspension that a sweeping desktop review had been conducted on “all medical practitioners” in the unit.
However, under questioning by Dr Chavan’s lawyer Ben McMillan KC, the CEO admitted he did not know who conducted the review or what it involved.
The Townsville Bulletin put questions to Professor Keyes around the case and he fiercely defended the hospital’s decision.
“This has been an extremely difficult process for our health service, for Dr Chavan, and for me,” he said.
“The decision I took was not a happy or comfortable one, but I maintain it was the right one.”
Prof Keyes said a large part of his role was the “custodianship of public funds”.
“The same standard applies to every employee of the health service regardless of their job title,” he said.
In defence of Dr Chavan’s supervisor, Dr Andrew Clift, who admitted to also being paid by two helath service for the same hours worked, Prof Keyes said Dr Clift’s supervisor was aware of his concurrent employment.
“Concurrent medical employment is not unusual in Australia,” he said.
“The health service has reviewed Dr Clift’s rostering, CST, and concurrent employment arrangements and holds no concerns.”
He also hit back at claims that Dr Chavan was denied an extension to respond to his show cause notice.
“We also agreed to extend the time frame for his responses in recognition of his wife’s illness,” he said.
“No extension request made by Dr Chavan was refused.”
Prof Keyes said it would be disrespectful “to both the commission and this process for me to make any further or wider-ranging comments”.
Dr Chavan’s lawyer was contacted for comment.
