Oakden mental health facility whistleblower Stewart Johnston nuts out need for change with minister Leesa Vlahos
AN Oakden aged care whistleblower says the State Government has pledged to conduct random spot checks on facilities and supported a mistreatment hotline.
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AN Oakden aged care whistleblower, who branded the mental health facility abuse scandal as SA’s “Rosie Batty moment”, says that the State Government has pledged to conduct random spot checks on facilities and supported a mistreatment hotline.
Stewart Johnston, whose mother Helen accused Oakden staff of repeated assaults in 2008, said only radical change would prevent another horror.
On Monday, Mr Johnston had a 90-minute meeting with Mental Health and Substance Abuse Minister Leesa Vlahos after the disturbing case was published in Saturday’s Advertiser.
Three incidents known to have occurred at the Oakden Older Person’s Mental Health Service in the past eight months have now been referred to police.
Eight staff members have been stood down pending further investigations and 21 reported to the national health regulator for action.
Mr Johnston said Chief Psychiatrist Aaron Groves’ report should be SA’s “Rosie Batty” or “child abuse royal commission” moment which delivered major change after an horrific event.
“I made it quite clear that I’m here to affect change on behalf of the families of the victims and to assist with radical change,” he said.
“If any other families want to come forward, now is the time and get this out in the open. They will be listened to, and they will be heard.”
He said the Government must be fully transparent and deliver change.
“They can’t just be seen to be doing the right thing, it actually has to happen.” Mr Johnston said.
“This is our Rosie Batty moment for domestic violence and like the royal commission into child sex abuse, at Oakden. I’ll work with them until I have a reason otherwise.”
Mr Johnston said he was heartened by the meeting, which included significant promises of change from Ms Vlahos to both right wrongs of the past and stop them happening again.
Mr Johnston said he won agreement to end the “ridiculous” situation in which sites like Oakden are given up to a month’s notice of audits, and support for a new system of spot checks.
He was also reassured that all managers from 2008, when his mother was abused, had been removed and encouraged by Ms Vlahos’ interest in setting up an abuse hotline.
Mr Johnston said he was also given an “iron-clad guarantee” that any guilty staff at Oakden would be chased “to the end of the earth” and made accountable for wrongdoing and abuse.
Mr Johnson said Premier Jay Weatherill’s office also sent him a message saying it was aware of the meeting with Ms Vlahos.
He has requested a meeting with Mr Weatherill at a later date.
Mr Johnston’s mother, then aged 71, left two weeks into a five-week stay at Oakden to treat chronic pain, telling her family that she had been thrown down on to a toilet and left there by a staff member.
It was alleged a staff member then returned and slapped Helen after she rang the aid bell.
Mr Johnston said he had been fobbed off after raising the matter with management.
Meanwhile, the Chief Psychiatrist says patient abuse and the rotten culture among staff at the Oakden mental health facility would likely have continued without a comprehensive review.
This follows revelations the doctor responsible for the site stood down from the role shortly after Chief Psychiatrist Aaron Groves began his investigation into allegations of patient mistreatment.
Dr Groves told The Advertiser that past audits and investigations into the facility did not have the “degree of scrutiny” his review was able to achieve.
When asked what could have been done to have uncovered these “shocking” issues earlier, he said that he struggled to come up with an answer.
“I think that’s a really important question. I think unless somebody had commissioned a review like mine earlier it wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
The clinical lead at Oakden, Dr Russell Draper, had overall accountability for the site and patients.
Northern Adelaide Local Health Network chief executive Jackie Hanson said Dr Draper “stepped down” in February to “focus on his clinical duties, which he continues to perform in NALHN”.
The clinical lead position will be filled early next month.