Barwon Health hired Cathy Condon, woman who ‘led’ aged-care death cover-up

A Barwon Health staff member has questioned the organisation’s vetting process, after it hired a woman who was found to have led a death cover-up to work in its aged-care quality team.

Catherine Condon outside the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

A woman whose nursing registration was suspended after she covered up the circumstances of the death of an aged-care resident is now working at Barwon Health.

Catherine Gerardine Condonwas a registered nurse and facility manager at an aged-care home in Melbourne when a resident with dementia was found dead in a fountain in 2011.

The death was passed off as a heart attack but the elderly woman had been face down in the water for 50 minutes before being found.

Ms Condon and a colleague were found to have kept key details about the woman’s death from her family, police, doctors and other staff.

A coroner found Ms Condon was the “leader in the cover-up”.

Barwon Health spokeswoman Kate Bibby said the organisation hired Ms Condon to work in aged-care quality in 2021, and was aware of the incident.

The Addy has been told Ms Condon has acted in managerial roles at North Geelong’s Blakiston Lodge. The aged-care facility, at Barwon Health’s McKellar Centre, is dedicated to caring for people with dementia and mental illness.

A Barwon Health staff member, who wished to remain anonymous, said the organisation’s employment of Ms Condon was appalling.

The staff member questioned Barwon Health’s vetting processes.

Barwon Health’s McKellar Centre.

But Ms Bibby said the recruitment process was thorough, including previous employer references, a police check and credentialing via the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

At the Melbourne aged-care home where the fatality took place in 2011, which cannot be named for legal reasons,Ms Condon directed a colleague to record the circumstances of the resident’s death, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) was told.

But the note did not record that the resident was found lying face down in the fountain with her face partially submerged, and incorrectly reported the resident as found on the ground in the courtyard, the tribunal heard.

Ms Condon instructed staff to move the woman’s body from the fountain to her room and dry her. Night staff were told the woman died of a heart attack.

In 2017, Ms Condon was suspended for three months after she was found to have engaged in professional misconduct by VCAT.

She was ordered to undertake an education program.

Her principal place of practice is listed as North Geelong by AHPRA.

Ms Condon’s involvement in the incident at the Melbourne aged care home was widely reported.

The VCAT ruling read: “At the end of the period of her suspension, we have no concerns about her returning to employment as a nurse.”

“If we had taken the view that Ms Condon’s professional misconduct meant that she was not suitable for registration as a nurse, we would have cancelled her registration,” it said.

Ms Bibby said Barwon Health upheld compassion and accountability as fundamental values.

“We have allowed Ms Condon an opportunity to work with us, after demonstrating her personal growth over the past decade,” she said.

Originally published as Barwon Health hired Cathy Condon, woman who ‘led’ aged-care death cover-up