This policy statement is made in accordance with the Victorian Whistleblowers Protection Act which came into effect on 1st January 2002.
Consistent with the Act, the policy of Eastern Health is to encourage and facilitate the making of disclosures, where these are supported by reasonable grounds, related to alleged improper or corrupt conduct in the management or conduct of Eastern Health.
A staff person or member of the public who has reasonable grounds to believe improper or corrupt conduct has occurred, is occurring or is about to occur in the management or conduct of Eastern Health, (including apprehension of detriment) is encouraged to disclosure this.
The aim of these procedures is to establish an objective system to investigate disclosed allegations of improper conduct, or detrimental action against the person making the disclosure and to enable appropriate action to be taken.
Improper conduct means conduct that is corrupt, a substantial mismanagement of Eastern Health resources or conduct involving substantial risk to public health, or safety or to the environment. The improper conduct must be sufficiently serious to establish (if proved) a criminal offence or reasonable grounds for dismissal from employment. A disclosure of alleged improper conduct may relate to Eastern Health or to an employee of Eastern Health.
Corrupt conduct includes: conduct by any person (not necessarily an employee) that adversely affects honest performance of an employee or of the functions of Eastern Health; an employee performing their functions dishonestly or with inappropriate partiality; conduct by an employee, a former employee or conduct by Eastern Health that amounts to a breach of public trust, or a misuse of information or material acquired in the course of performing their official functions, or a conspiracy, or attempted conspiracy to engage in corrupt conduct.
Detrimental action is action taken or threatened against a person disclosing alleged improper conduct and includes - action causing injury, loss or damage, intimidation or harassment, discrimination, disadvantage, or adverse treatment to a persons employment, career, profession, trade or business and includes the taking of disciplinary action because of the fact of a disclosure of alleged improper conduct.
Eastern Health has established written procedures to facilitate the making of disclosures, investigation of disclosures, and for the protection of persons making disclosures from reprisals by Eastern Health, or any other member or employee of Eastern Health. A copy of these procedures has been made available to all employees and members of the Board. Any member of the public may obtain a copy free of charge, from the Human Resources Department at each Eastern Health campus.
A disclosure may be made to Eastern Health or to the Ombudsman.
The following procedures apply where a disclosure is made to Eastern Health:
- A disclosure of alleged improper conduct relating to Eastern Health shall be made to
either a nominated Protected Disclosure Officer or to the Protected Disclosure Coordinator.
Alternatively, the disclosure may be made to the Ombudsman.
- On receipt of a disclosure, the CEO shall promptly
- Assign a welfare manager to the
person making the disclosure, who reports direct to the CEO
- Assign an investigator
(who may be a senior employee or external solicitor/consultant) to investigate the
disclosure and report directly to the CEO.
- If the disclosure relates to the CEO, the disclosure should be made to the Board
President who shall immediately refer the matter to the Ombudsman.
- Disclosure and investigation material will be treated with the utmost confidentiality and
security. Such material is only to be accessed by the CEO, the protected disclosure
co-ordinator, the relevant protected disclosure officer,by the investigator or the assigned welfare manager.
- Eastern Health is required to include in its annual reports material including the number
(if any) and types of disclosures made to it.
- A disclosure that, after investigation, is found to be substantiated, shall be referred by
Eastern Health to the Ombudsman.
- It is a statutory offence, punishable by fine or up to 2 years imprisonment, for a person to
knowingly provide false information to the agency, intending it be acted on as a disclosed matter.
Eastern Health is committed to the highest standards of ethics and probity in its performance of its duties and the delivery of its services to the community.
Disclosure may be made to a Protected Disclosure Officer or the Protected Disclosure Coordinator.
Disclosures made under this policy will be investigated swiftly, professionally and discretely.
A copy of the Act and a summary of its provisions is available for inspection at the office of the CEO. The Ombudsman has published a set of detailed "model procedures" and Eastern Health will follow these in dealing with a disclosure. A copy of this model is available for inspection at the office of the CEO.
Whistleblowers Protection Act 2001
For any enquiries on this policy, contact Human Resources on (03) 9895 3281.
Whistleblowers Act 
