Oakden facility scandal: Mental Health Minister Leesa Vlahos faces new call to resign as letter about staff numbers emerges
MENTAL Health Minister Leesa Vlahos was alerted to and dismissed concerns about understaffing at Oakden in 2015, despite concerns of an assault on a patient.
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MENTAL Health and Substance Abuse Minister Leesa Vlahos was alerted to and dismissed concerns about understaffing at the Oakden older persons facility in 2015.
The Opposition has today stepped up its calls for Ms Vlahos to resign, after correspondence emerged between her and federal Labor MP Tony Zappia over the troubled site.
The development comes as the Sunday Mail revealed today that SA Health bureaucrats spent millions of taxpayer dollars on overseas conferences as elderly patients were left neglected and abused in the run-down Oakden mental health facility.
Ms Vlahos on Thursday released the findings of a harrowing report by the Chief Psychiatrist into Oaken, which uncovered “practices transported from mid to late 20th Century Glenside Hospital”.
They included allegations of physical abuse and neglect, as well as rough handling and restraint.
The report also found that “using the most conservative estimates”, the site was at least 10.5 fulltime positions short of what was required to deal with the needs of patients.
“It was apparent to the Review that Oakden has insufficient nursing staff for the type of consumer that is likely to be within the unit,” Chief Psychiatrist Aaron Groves found.
The report also finds quality issues at the site have been present for more than a decade.
In a letter stamped 17 April, 2015, Ms Vlahos responds to concerns raised by Mr Zappia on behalf of a constituent in her then capacity as Parliamentary Secretary with responsibilities in mental heath. A review was undertaken that found staff numbers to be adequate, she wrote.
“Approximately three years ago an upgrade of Clements House (a ward at Oakden) took place to reduce rooms from four share rooms to double rooms to improve Clements House living conditions,” Ms Vlahos wrote. “An investigation has taken place and I can confirm that the staffing levels are higher at Clements House than at other aged care services. “Nursing staff working in this facility are highly specialised and skilled to manage the challenging needs of this consumer group and regular risk assessments are conducted on all consumers.
“I trust this information alleviates any concerns that your constituent might have.”
The complainant, Lorraine Baff, said her husband Jim was assaulted by a staff member at Oakden’s Clements House ward who was then stood down and put on police charges.
“He was in a chair, with a restraint just around his waist, and the staff member just came up and stomped on his legs,” Ms Baff told the ABC.
“Another staff member witnessed it and made a complaint to management.
“If not for the help from the manager from Clements and that young staff member from Clements I would not have got a conviction.”
Dr Groves also found few senior people at Oakden took responsibility for the conditions, saying: “The results of this failure are captured in the organisational phrase ‘the fish rots from the head’”. “This is an apt view of the collective organisational leadership as it related to Oakden,” Dr Groves found.
Opposition health spokesman Stephen Wade said Ms Vlahos “must go”.
“Minister Vlahos blamed a culture of cover-up for the appalling treatment of these vulnerable people,” he said.
“The truth is Minister Vlahos chose to ignore repeated warnings from authoritative sources about conditions at Oakden.
“Minister Vlahos has left elderly South Australians suffering from dementia in disgraceful
circumstances despite being made clearly aware that the standard of care being provided at Oakden was not of an acceptable standard.
“The conditions to which some of the most vulnerable, ageing South Australians were subjected to were nothing short of appalling. “Having been warned time and again about the atrocious conditions at Oakden, Minister Vlahos is part of the problem, not part of the solution.”