State Government was alerted to problems at Oakden aged care facility in 2008 expert report

AN expert report in 2008 alerted the State Government to 13 major failings at the Oakden mental health facility, including poor care and management left unchanged for almost a decade.

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AN expert report in 2008 alerted the State Government to 13 major failings at the Oakden mental health facility, including poor care and management left unchanged for almost a decade.

In the Oakden report, released last week, Chief Psychiatrist Aaron Groves said he was “confronted by the situation whereby so many of the findings” were unchanged in 2017.

They include poor documentation, an “overwhelming feeling that purchasing protocols had paralysed action and that there was a pressing need to purchase essential items”.

He also reported there was “no systemic approach” for quality improvement and lack of regular clinical audits.

Dr Groves also found there was “no sense that behavioural management was a primary focus” and most residents had “little stimulation or engagement in meaningful activity”.

“This apparent lack of attention and failure to take any sufficient action to address serious issues presented by an external review strongly suggests the service has not developed a learning culture and is not open to external scrutiny,” he reported.

“Both of these factors that permeate the culture of Oakden will not change without significant and clear actions.”

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.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse Minister Leesa Vlahos on Monday released the 2008 report, by experts Simon Stafrace and Alan Lilly, after calls from the media and Opposition.

SA Health chief executive Vickie Kaminski said it was clear that “not enough was done”.

“We must do better,” she said. “This starts with accepting all the recommendations of the recent report, closing Makk and MacLeay, and working with the families involved.”

She said SA Health would “ensure the safe transition” of families’ loved ones over the coming months.

The 2008 Stafrace and Lilly report was commissioned following criticisms of the Oakden facility by Federal Government regulators and findings of “serious risk” for residents at the facility.

It found a “limited understanding and application” of strategic objectives, and “no written guidelines to set minimum standards of medical care” in the Oakden wards.

“Reviewers did not find evidence of regular meetings of senior staff for the purpose of co-ordinating clinical practice, training, education and clinical standards,” they reported.

The report made 27 recommendations, including for improved leadership and clinical care.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said the Government had systemically neglected the state’s most vulnerable for a decade, and said it was unbelievable that both Premier Jay Weatherill and Health Minister Jack Snelling would not return from leave this week to address the crisis.

“There is now more and more evidence coming forward to unequivocally show Jay Weatherill and this Labor administration has been on notice about the Oakden facility,” he said.

“You can judge a government on the way that it treats its most vulnerable, and they have failed.

“That is not the leader SA deserves. They deserve a leader who is going to take responsibility.”