CCC WA Health inquiry: Joondalup Health Campus cleared

THE North Metropolitan Health Service has confirmed that there were no underhand dealings discovered at Joondalup Health Campus as part of a damning inquiry into corruption with WA Health bureaucrats.

A Corruption and Crime Commission report, released on Thursday, outlined up to a decade of deceit involving senior North Metro Health Service (NMHS) staff members accepting bribes from contractors in exchange for lucrative work at hospitals north of the river.

Joondalup Health Campus was mentioned in the report but an NMHS spokeswoman said there were “no underhand contracts awarded at JHC”.

The hospital has undergone hundreds of millions of dollars of redevelopment since 2010.

“The ex-NMHS employees did not manage, and were not part of, any contracts associated with JHC,” the spokeswoman said.

Joondalup Health Campus chief executive Kempton Cowan said Thursday’s report was “the first we have heard of this issue”.

“It seems that we have been mentioned by association only, and that there are no accusations of any impropriety at Joondalup,” he said.

“I am very confident that all work has been allocated appropriately at Joondalup, and that JHC is compliant with all the terms of its contracts.”

Other health centres covered by the NMHS – and mentioned in the report – include Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, St John of God Midland Public Hospital, PathWest and Graylands Hospital.

Among the more serious findings was the discovery that one senior official had private renovations done on his home by a hospital contractor and then colluded with the contractor to invoice the NMHS about $170,000 for the work.

In another case, a public servant accepted a bribe from a contractor for a business class flight for he and his wife to Canada, where they attended their son’s wedding.

The report recommended criminal charges be laid against three public servants.