Austin Hospital staff shocked after unrestrained triple killer allowed in public waiting room
STAFF at a Melbourne public hospital were horrified a triple killer was allowed to sit in a public waiting room without restraints.
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STAFF at a public hospital were horrified a triple killer was allowed to sit in a public waiting room without restraints.
Peko Lakovski was transported from the secure psychiatric facility Thomas Embling Hospital in Fairfield via taxi, with a two person escort.
A source at the Austin Hospital said staff were only informed about his arrival minutes beforehand and were horrified to learn of his murderous history.
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Lakovski sat in the public waiting room like any other patient.
He was returned to Thomas Embling Hospital in a taxi.
Lakovski was admitted to Thomas Embling in 2002 after strangling his wife.
But, in 2009, he butchered two other inmates. Before the killings, he had been on more than 700 unescorted trips outside the facility.
Lakovski had been granted greater privileges and was in the lowest security unit when he killed the two other patients.
He was given a 25-year nominal term in 2011 after being found not guilty of the murders of the two patients because of mental impairment.
Health and Community Services Union secretary Paul Healey said it was a bizarre situation for staff.
“Many staff either knew the people he killed or were on when the killings happened. The trauma for them has not abated.”
Mr Healey said Lakovski would have been assessed as safe to take on public outings, but he said assessments were an imperfect science.
“He would have undergone assessments before he killed those two other patients as well.”
Opposition health spokeswoman Mary Wooldridge said said the lax security put people at risk in the public waiting room.
“It’s totally unacceptable the safety of patients and visitors to a hospital is compromised by the Labor Government’s lax security and oversight of a dangerous killer,” she said.
Forensicare chief executive Tom Dalton said that before any patient was allowed out of Thomas Embling Hospital on leave there was a careful psychiatric examination and risk assessment.
He said all patients required to attend medical appointments must be granted leave by the Forensic Leave Panel.
“When granting leave, the FLP takes into consideration the impacts the leave will have on the safety of the patient and members of the public.