20/03/2026
Opinion
“'Culture of fear': why doctors are now speaking out for their stood-down peer”, by Dr Lachie McKeeman, published in the Border Mail on 14 March 2026
‘As the Border Medical Association, following a combined meeting with the Senior Medical Staff Association, we wish to provide the following comments.
Based on what AMA Victoria has informed us of the situation regarding Dr David Clancy:
Dr Clancy was provided a notice to stand down on Wednesday afternoon before being escorted out of AWH grounds; this was witnessed by staff.
It is believed that Dr Clancy was advised, based on feedback from Safer Care Victoria, that a formal investigation was to be conducted into his workplace behaviour.
This includes that staff did not feel safe speaking up to him about patient safety concerns, or that there would be no action taken.
The feedback is not able to be provided to Dr Clancy as the SCV review is protected.
Dr Clancy has not been provided with specific allegations to date.
We are aware that the AWH board approved the action to stand Dr Clancy down prior to receiving the review.
The board met with the chair of SCV the day after Dr Clancy was escorted out of the building, at which time the review was tabled.
We have been informed that Dr Clancy is not listed in the SCV recommendations.
To our knowledge no person whose workplace behaviours have been included in the report has been escorted out of the building.
The action of escorting Dr Clancy out of the building appears out of keeping with the concerns raised.
It raises suspicion that it was done as an act of intimidation.
Dr Clancy is not to have access to his emails or work files.
He was allowed access to his work laptop, but colleagues report that has been taken from his office.
Dr Clancy has been a valued colleague at AWH for eight years.
He is from this region and returned home not only to practise medicine, but because he felt he could contribute to making a better health service for our community.
He has been tireless in his work to improve not only the division of emergency and critical care, but the wider organisation and he advocates for staff and patients.
Testament to his leadership is the volume of specialists and trainees he has recruited, many of whom have come to work here because of Dr Clancy.
His wife, Nicole, is a member of our medical community.
We are thinking of her, their five children and the wider family.
Nicole and their family have had to make many sacrifices as Dr Clancy dedicated extraordinary hours to AWH.
On the afternoon he was escorted from the premises, he had just completed 17 days in a row and been caring for patients overnight the night before.
The current situation must be distressing for Dr Clancy and his family.
Colleagues have been worried about the toll the deteriorating culture has had on Dr Clancy, and several of us felt that he had been targeted on several occasions.
He was a beacon for staff that had been impacted by the culture of fear that has developed in AWH over the past three-and-a-half years.
Dr Clancy has been integral in uniting clinicians to speak up about the lack of psychological safety in the organisation – not only for the sake of medicos but the wider organisation.
This led to the formation of the AWH Senior Medical Staff Association and the subsequent overwhelming vote of no-confidence in the CEO and chair of the board in October.
This vote was dismissed by the CEO, chair of the board and the Victorian Health Minister.
Dr Clancy has been subjected to multiple quasi-reviews.
Most recently he had been made aware that an “organisation redesign” was to remove the divisional medical director positions, which Dr Clancy currently fills.
Dr Clancy was verbally informed he was to be investigated last year for “offending the CEO”, which was not followed up with any written disclosure, and subsequently the investigation was halted after 10 days.
We have grave concerns for the independence of the Safer Care Victoria review process.
Concerns were raised by doctors and nurses within the surgical and emergency departments about the safety of the review, given the steering committee contained members of the executive (including the CEO) and the chair of the board.
Many staff did not feel psychologically safe, due to concerns that the review would ultimately be biased and had a hidden agenda.
It is unclear why Dr Clancy is the only one who has been escorted off the premises, despite the feedback to AMA from members of SCV that he is not in the review report.
These actions will create generational harm to AWH staff, be they trainees or senior clinicians who are distressed at what has happened to their friend, colleague, mentor and leader.
One of the few divisions that was able to attract specialists in the present environment was led by Dr Clancy. We risk losing them.
This does not seem to matter to the executive or the board.
Dr Clancy has often reminded colleagues, who are dismayed at the actions of AWH, of the quote “some men will burn down the house to rule over the ashes”.
This recent action against Dr Clancy continues the disturbing trend of silencing staff: doctors, nurses, allied health, and support services.
The chair of the board refuses to meet medical staff without the CEO present.
Board members are not allowed to talk to staff.
The actions taken against Dr Clancy are no longer confined to the CEO or the board; they now risk undermining the reputation of SCV as a whole.
There is no excuse, end the abuse.
We will continue to work with AMA Victoria to achieve a positive outcome for not only Dr Clancy, but our community.’
Dr Lachie McKeeman is Border Medical Association secretary
