Concerns are mounting over what senior doctors and regional residents describe as “escalating unrest” inside Albury Wodonga Health, after a prominent emergency specialist was escorted from the Albury hospital this week.
Staff witnessed Dr David Clancy the service’s Director of Emergency and Critical Care being escorted from the building on Wednesday. Dr Clancy is a leading member of the Border Medical Association, a non‑political advocacy group that has been openly critical of the $558 million Albury hospital redevelopment. He is also part of the newly formed Senior Medical Staff Association, which recently passed a vote of no confidence in two members of the AWH executive.
Albury Wodonga Health last year commissioned an independent Safer Care Victoria Quality and Safety Review into the culture of its surgical and emergency departments. A Joint Governance Steering Committee, made up of SCV and AWH executives, was established to oversee the process. The Victorian Department of Health confirmed the review is still underway and will not be publicly released.
The ABC understands Dr Clancy has been suspended in connection with the review. His departure adds to a growing list of senior clinicians who have left the service in recent months exits that residents and advocacy groups say reflect deeper concerns about workplace culture and the direction of the hospital redevelopment.
As tensions rise and key staff continue to walk away, community members fear the region’s already‑strained health system is being pushed into further instability.
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