Oakden scandal: Independent Commission Against Corruption to investigate
INDEPENDENT Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander will investigate the circumstances surrounding the abuse of elderly residents at the Oakden aged-care and mental-health facility.
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INDEPENDENT Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander will investigate the circumstances surrounding the abuse of elderly residents at the Oakden aged-care and mental-health facility.
Mr Lander told a parliamentary committee on Thursday afternoon that he would hold the inquiry in private but had left open the option of publicly releasing his final report.
The investigation into whether any maladministration or misconduct occurred at the nursing home, in Adelaide’s northeast, is expected to take at least six months.
A report by the state’s Chief Psychiatrist found systemic abuse of residents at the facility — many of whom have dementia — and staff have since been referred to police and medical authorities for investigation.
The wife of a former resident of Oakden welcomed the new investigation as a way to hold “people to account”.
Barb Spriggs’ husband Bob, 66, died after receiving overdoses of medicine and sustaining bruising consistent with heavy restraint.
Mrs Spriggs told The Advertiser she felt there were “a whole chain of people (at Oakden) who need to be held to account”.
However, she said the new probe should not stall any already promised reforms.
“We need to move forward,” she said.
Premier Jay Weatherill said the Government would continue the process of closing the Oakden centre and moving residents elsewhere.
He would “look forward” to receiving any recommendations from Mr Lander but said he maintained “full confidence” in the minister responsible for mental health facilities, Leesa Vlahos.
Ms Vlahos has been criticised for delays in acting on reports of abuse at Oakden.
Mr Lander on Thursday revealed that the Office for Public Integrity had received 11 reports about the Oakden facility since February last year, including four which had been assessed as potentially containing corruption.
A further six had been assessed as relating to potential misconduct.
Four of those cases had been referred to the SA Health chief executive.
Earlier this month, Mr Lander requested, and was granted, extra funding to engage more legal staff in order to carry out an investigation into Oakden.
He has promised to elaborate on the specific terms of reference for the inquiry next week and make a public call for anyone with relevant information to contact his office.
Mr Lander said he would not be “reinvestigating what the Chief Psychiatrist has found” but trying to get to the bottom of “what information was communicated or what action was taken in response”.
“The purpose of my investigation is to try to determine who was responsible for allowing it (abuse) to happen,” he said.
“Nobody seems to want to accept responsibility for it. Somebody has to be responsible.
“If information was available that was not acted on in a timely and appropriate manner, that might constitute serious or systemic maladministration, as defined in the ICAC Act.
“Alternatively, if information did not become known to appropriate persons — whether as a consequence of intentional cover-up or poor communications and oversight systems, that too might constitute serious or systemic maladministration.
“Wherever the truth lies, I think these are matters that warrant a focused and fulsome investigation.”
Meanwhile, independent Senator Nick Xenophon on Thursday received nearly 2000 pages of documents relating to the national oversight and accreditation of Oakden.
“Even a cursory view ... reveals a disturbing lack of attention to monitoring performance against the Commonwealth’s accreditation standards,” he said.
“The history of consistent non-compliance and the lack of follow up and remedial action is inexcusable.”
