Melbourne’s St Vincents Hospital has been falsely accused of discrimination linked to Victoria’s First Nations treaty over a policy of fast-tracking the treatment of Indigenous patients.

Media reports and social media posts in the past week claim staff at St Vincent’s have been ordered to put all Indigenous patients ahead of other patients in some cases.

The claim of preferential treatment has appeared in various social media posts in the same week that Victoria’s parliament passed its landmark Indigenous treaty bill.

“Under this policy, if you are Aboriginal and present at an Emergency Department, you will be prioritised based on race first, rather than the severity of your health condition or immediate medical need,” one post reads

“The stench of racism can be smelt in Victoria now,” another reads, referencing the state’s treaty.

“The recent hospital triage instruction where Aboriginal people were given priority access over all other patients tells everything you need to know.”

A different post also links the policy directly to Victoria’s recently passed Indigenous treaty.

“Thanks to this Victorian Treaty imposed by the Labor Government, St Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne is discriminating by giving Indigenous patients fast-tracked care!” it reads. 

The hospital’s policy is unrelated to Victoria’s Indigenous treaty bill. Photo: Facebook

However, the hospital policy does not prioritise Indigenous patients over all other patients, regardless of the severity of their condition or immediate medical needs.

It has also been in place since April 2024 and is not connected to Victoria’s treaty legislation. 

The hospital said the policy was implemented after a review found Indigenous patients were waiting on average three times longer in the emergency department than non-Indigenous patients, and were three times more likely to leave without being seen. 

It relates to the Australasian Triage Scale, which is used by hospital emergency departments to prioritise patient care based on urgency.

On the scale –

• Category 1 patients have life-threatening conditions requiring immediate intervention;
• Category 2 patients face either imminently life-threatening conditions, have severe pain, or need time-critical treatments, and must be seen within 10 minutes;
• Category 3 patients have potentially serious conditions that require assessment within half an hour;
• Category 4 patients have moderate symptoms or significant pain and must be treated within one hour;
• Category 5 patients are those with minor ailments or who require only administrative services and can safely wait up to two hours.

The hospital’s policy is to move all Indigenous patients in Categories 4 and 5 into Category 3. In effect, this means that it aims to assess and begin treating all Indigenous patients within half an hour.

However, St Vincent’s Hospital confirmed in a statement that the policy did not affect any patients in Categories 1-3.

Chief executive Nicole Twaddle said the emergency department assessed about 150 patients a day and the policy applied only to about two Indigenous patients each day.

“Patients presenting with a serious or life-threatening emergency – regardless of their background – will always be seen first,” she said.

“That’s what ED triage is designed to do.

“We’re not ignoring medical urgency. We’re simply addressing the factors that were causing First Nations patients to be waiting three times longer than everyone else in our ED.”

-AAP