Mildura Base Public Hospital (MBPH) has been found to have copied and pasted data in its annual reports over a four-year span. The hospital reported identical figures for compliments and complaints in its 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025 reports. Each year, MBPH stated it received 247 compliments and 239 formal complaints. The hospital has since admitted it failed to provide updated figures.

MBPH released its first annual report in November 2021 after transitioning from private to public management the previous year. This change made it one of 77 hospitals and health services required to submit annual reports to the Victorian government. In its inaugural report, covering the period from September 15, 2020, to July 1, 2021, MBPH reported receiving 46 compliments and 183 formal complaints. The report stated, "This year we received 46 compliments and 183 formal concerns. MBPH has worked closely with consumers to resolve concerns raised and welcome all feedback that improve our health service."

In the 2021-2022 report, the hospital updated its figures to 247 compliments and 239 formal complaints, repeating the same statement about working with consumers. However, this was the last time the data was updated. The same feedback section, with the unchanged figures, appeared verbatim in the subsequent reports for 2023, 2024, and 2025.

A hospital representative confirmed that the data for 2023 was accurate, coincidentally matching the 2022 figures. They did not provide the correct data for 2024 but stated that the accurate figures for the 2025 report would be 256 compliments and 329 complaints. The spokesperson acknowledged, "In the 2024 and 2025 annual reports, information relating to feedback on the number of compliments and formal concerns was not updated, resulting in the incorrect publication of figures. This was an administrative error which has since been identified, and the Department of Health has been informed. We are currently awaiting guidance on the appropriate steps to rectify the error, after which the correct figures will be published."

Only six other hospitals in Victoria publicly reported their compliments and complaints statistics in 2025. Four of these are located in metropolitan Melbourne. Alfred Health and Austin Health both reported more complaints than compliments over the past four years. Eastern Health and Western District Health began sharing their statistics this year, showing more compliments than complaints. In western Victoria, the Beaufort and Skipton Health Service also reported more compliments than complaints for the past four years, as did Portland District Health. In contrast, MBPH's data has shown no variation over the same period.

The annual reports from the hospital are official records of the state parliament, and correcting errors in these reports can be complex. If MBPH opts to amend the incorrect data, it must notify the Legislative Assembly. The clerks will then assess whether the error is minor or significant. Minor errors are typically clerical or typographical, while significant errors involve misleading information that affects the understanding of the document. If the report is amended, all members of parliament will be notified via email.

Mildura MP Jade Benham expressed concern over the repeated data, stating, "It's a significant error. I think anything that goes towards a lack of transparency is very significant. In my mind, any error in a government document is significant." She plans to inquire with the health department about why the repeated data was not previously flagged. Benham emphasized the importance of accuracy in hospital reports, saying, "Our hospital report needs to be impeccable. It needs to be perfect because anything that leaves the hospital and the Department of Health, for that matter, is a reflection on the entire system. To see the attention to detail is not there, then that has to be a concern, doesn't it?" The Victorian health minister has also been contacted for comment.