Unintentional Oakden whistleblower Barbara Spriggs says she’d do it again
The woman who first exposed one of the greatest scandals in SA’s recent history has revealed why the pain she and her family suffered after blowing the whistle was worth it.
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Oakden whistleblower Barbara Spriggs says the “mental and physical toll” from lifting the lid on the nursing home scandal, is not as great as the guilt she would have felt for keeping quiet.
Her reflection comes as the royal commission, prompted by revelations of abuse and mistreatment in the aged care sector, releases its first report today.
Mrs Spriggs’ husband, Bob, was a patient at the Oakden Older Persons Mental Health Service in February 2016, where he received overdoses of medicine and displayed bruising consistent with heavy restraint.
But blowing the whistle on the State Government-run facility was not her intention.
“I never dreamt in a million years that we would be uncovering what got uncovered, I went in quite innocently on my own personal journey, just wanting some answers to what happened to my husband,” she said.
Questions were first asked of the Oakden facility in June 2016, the Community Visitors Scheme, and then the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, which began an investigation. This was followed by a corruption watchdog probe, a Senate inquiry, and a royal commission.
“The whole toll has been huge on my family,” Mrs Spriggs said.
“I would have found it hard to live with myself by not doing something.”
A hotline was established to make it easier for people to report elder abuse, and to do it anonymously.
“I do have concerns about how readily available that number is to people,” she said.
“It needs to be in people’s face, it needs to be advertised on the TV.”
Ahead of the interim report today, Mrs Spriggs said the royal commission had enough evidence to show failures within the system.
“I hope that we can start putting time and money into correcting the things,” she said. Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said the report would put the sector on notice.
“It’s you, as providers of care in this sector, who are the ones that are going to make a difference,” he said.
“We all need to be working together to do that.”
Leading Aged Services Association CEO Sean Rooney said he hoped the interim report will be a turning point.
“The changes must see leadership and transparency, especially from governments, to make what will be difficult but responsible decisions for a better ageing future,” he said.
