Documents: Weatherill Government eyed privatising Oakden aged care home in 2016 before its closure

A LEAKED proposal to privatise the disgraced Oakden facility shows the State Government knew it had passed its use-by date – before it launched the investigation which prompted its closure.

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A LEAKED proposal to privatise the disgraced Oakden facility shows the State Government knew it had passed its use-by date – before it launched the investigation which prompted its closure.

SA Health tender documents obtained by The Advertiser show the Weatherill Government, in December 2016, considered whether a private provider should take over and relocate the service.

The 26-page “Expression of Interest” document showed SA Health had set a January 27, 2017, deadline for proposals, which was seen by the Government as early as November 2016.

Former chief psychiatrist Dr Aaron Groves was asked to undertake a review of Oakden on December 20, 2016.

The document states the service was running out of The Oaks building, opened in 1982, which was in a “very old condition” and the layout did not meet care needs.

The Weatherill Government considered privatising the service in 2016, according to leaked documents.

“This building has reached its end of useful life and the objective for SA Health from this EOI process is to relocate the service to alternative accommodation,” the documents state. Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander said in his damning report that the facility resembled a “depressing” prison where elderly South Australians were left in “shameful” conditions.

In his report, Mr Lander states former Mental Health Minister Leesa Vlahos received an email that contained a briefing and draft communication plan regarding handing over the Oakden mental health services to the private sector on November 24, 2016.

Mr Lander said Ms Vlahos “raised concerns” about the proposal and asked for an action plan on how it would be managed.

A spokeswoman for Health Minister Peter Malinauskas said the EOI process on the mental health service at Oakden did not proceed because Labor believed that acute public health services were best run in public hands.

“We have committed to a new model of care developed in consultation with clinicians and the community,” the spokeswoman said.

“Oakden is closed, the most severe dementia patients are being cared for in refurbished Northgate House, with the government providing a further $14.7 million for a new purpose-built facility.”

Deputy Liberal Leader Vickie Chapman said the document made it clear the Weatherill Government was “fully aware of the appalling conditions” at Oakden.

“Rather than building a new mental health facility to look after older South Australians with severe dementia the Weatherill Government wanted to wash its hands of the care of these people,” she said.

Mr Malinauskas did not respond to whether Labor planned to privatise other health services.

Ms Chapman called on the Premier, who has often attacked the Liberals over plans to sell the QEH, to explain his position on the potential privatisation of Oakden.