Oakden scandal: Family of Bob Spriggs dumbfounded at Jay Weatherill’s defence of Leesa Vlahos
THE Premier’s “full support” for Mental Health Minister Leesa Vlahos’s handling of the Oakden scandal, including a denial she failed to act on warnings, has infuriated the family that says its complaints led to action.
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PREMIER Jay Weatherill’s “full support” for Mental Health Minister Leesa Vlahos’s handling of the Oakden scandal, including a denial she failed to act on warnings, has infuriated the whistleblowing family that says it was its complaints that finally led to action.
Three weeks after the damning report on the facility was handed to the Government, Mr Weatherill on Monday broke his silence and credited Ms Vlahos for “shining a light” on the issue.
“The reality is if the minister had not instituted this inquiry we would not have been aware of the depths of concerns at this institution,” Mr Weatherill said.
“And rather than criticism, she should be acknowledged for the fact that she has shone a light on this facility and it’s revealed these very uncomfortable truths about the way in which this facility has been operating,” he said. “So she has my full support.”
The report revealed patients at the home were over-medicated, physically abused and isolated, prompting Ms Vlahos to accept all six recommendations and announce the facility’s closure.
Clive Spriggs said it was “disgusting” the Premier took three weeks to respond to revelations in the Oakden report, just before he flew to the APY Lands for a country Cabinet meeting on Monday.
“This is a huge thing that has happened and been covered up for 10 years and off he goes to do something else,” Mr Spriggs said.
His father, Bob Spriggs, was given 10 times the amount of his medication and left with unexplained bruises while staying at the Government-run facility last year.
The treatment of Bob Spriggs, who has since died, prompted the inquiry.
Shortly after Mr Spriggs told a press conference on Monday that he was yet to hear from Mr Weatherill, the Premier’s office contacted the family to organise a meeting.
“If we didn’t keep pushing nothing would’ve been done,” Mr Spriggs said. “Vlahos hasn’t shined a light ... an inquiry had to be done. If we didn’t go public, Oakden would still be running as it has been for the last 10 years.”
Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said that the Spriggs family were the “real heroes” of the Oakden scandal and dismissed the Premier’s praise of Ms Vlahos.
“It beggars belief that Jay Weatherill said Leesa took action … more than two years after a warning letter and only because of the work by the Spriggs family in shining a real light and giving a human face to the tragedy,” he said.
Mr Spriggs said they wanted the Premier to answer questions on why it had taken the State Government so long to act on complaints of mistreatment and medical overdosing.
“Having your father in the media, who has passed away with bruises on his legs, is not a very nice thing to see and we had to go through that to get any change. It’s pretty poor.”
Mr Weatherill reiterated the apology made by Ms Vlahos, saying he was “deeply sorry” to relatives of patients at the Older Persons Mental Health Service.
Alma Krecu, whose father Ermanno Serpo was overmedicated at the Oakden facility, said Mr Weatherill needed to take responsibility for the matter instead of continuing a culture of “cover-up”.
“Jay covers for everyone,” Mrs Krecu said. “There are a whole lot of heads that need to roll for this.”
Mr Weatherill said Ms Vlahos responded properly to a complaint about Oakden in 2014 but was given inaccurate advice at the time from SA Health
“What is disturbing however is that none of the systems of protection that have been put in place by the Government have revealed the depths of concerns at this institution before this report has been put in place,” he said.