Government denies ‘radioactive waste leak’ at Perth hospital
The state government has denied reports that outdated infrastructure at a major Perth public hospital caused multiple health issues for patients, including leaking “radioactive waste” and black mould.
But Leanne, a registered nurse at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital who did not want her surname published, said she had seen mould and mushrooms growing from the ceilings and that recently, there had been an overflow of fecal matter on the ground floor of the facility.
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital had reports of radioactive waste leaking in 2023. Credit: Getty Images
“While we’ve got patients waiting in the waiting room, the smell is going through the whole department,” she told ABC Perth Mornings.
“We’ve had mould with actual mushrooms growing out of our ceiling and in the main corridors, every time there’s a huge rainfall downpour in Perth, there’s always buckets and towels on the floor protecting all the leaks from the roof.
“It’s outrageous.”
She said the whole hospital needed to be revamped and that it was embarrassing to have patients come through and deal with the current conditions.
“We’re always telling them to complain, complain, complain, because they honestly can’t believe the conditions that they are subject to,” Leanne said.
Her claims come after The West Australian revealed internal documents had shown more than 1000 work orders inundating maintenance crews between January 2023 and June 2025 – the most serious being a pipe bursting that caused an “urgent rapid radiation leakage”.
In August 2024, staff working in intensive care declared multiple code yellow internal emergencies after another pipe failure sent sewage spewing into patient treatment bays.
Health Infrastructure Minister John Carey on Monday said it was not a radioactive leak but a non-hazardous water leak. He said no surgeries had been impacted or postponed.
“The radiation levels in these pipes were very low and may be zero, it depends on the use of toilets and treatment schedules,” he said.
“The point is, it wasn’t a radioactive leak, and it didn’t pose a risk to patient staff or the broader community.
“People can write down in a work order what they believe the problem to be but ultimately … what is actually written up might not be the final outcome.”
Carey also denied that any black mould had been found during any Department of Health reports.
But he did admit to the incident in the intensive care unit involving human waste, stating it was a result of a towel being flushed down a toilet and that one bed had been closed for five days.
“We do have ageing infrastructure. The government is making serious investment, but it is to be expected every year you will have a number of work orders coming through,” Carey said.
He said the number of work orders between January 2023 and June 2025 was 592 – not over 1000.
Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said it was clear “we have anything but a world-class health system”.
“The premier needs to take urgent responsibility for this. His continual tactics of delaying, denying, deflecting, are wearing thin, but more importantly, they are putting people’s lives at risk,” he said.
“We’re talking about doctors that work in ICU at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital being subject to the shocking leakages, being subject to human excrement, being subjected to breaking and failing equipment when we’re asking them to look after the sick, the injured and the dying.
“It’s not good enough.”
AMA WA president Dr Kyle Hoath said he didn’t want to point fingers and draw blame.
“We want the premier to acknowledge that there is a problem with our health system, that our hospitals are on their knees, and that we need to work together to fix this,” he said.
“We’re asking for the ‘world-class’ line to be dropped and to please acknowledge a problem here.”
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