Oakden Mental Health Facility

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS (Taylor—Minister for Disabilities, Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse) (14:58): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. L.A. VLAHOS: I rise to update the house on the steps undertaken so far to improve the level of care for people at the Oakden older persons mental health facility. What has been uncovered at Oakden is deeply distressing. I reiterate the unconditional apology the Premier and I have made on behalf of the South Australian government to residents, their families and their loved ones.

The Chief Psychiatrist's report uncovered examples of systemic elder abuse and neglect of some of our most vulnerable South Australian citizens dating back to 2011. Disturbingly, he also uncovered a staff culture of cover-up at Oakden that only came to light throughout the course of sustained forensic investigations. The Chief Psychiatrist has stated that his own visit in June last year was not sufficient to uncover the systemic issues.

In 2007-08, the facility failed a significant number of commonwealth accreditation standards. At this time, the state government acted on concerns raised by the commonwealth's Australian Aged Care Quality Agency and full accreditation was again granted. The mental health minister at the time, the Hon. Gail Gago, oversaw both the removal of the commonwealth sanctions regarding the accreditation process and the implementation of a joint management system with private provider ACH, an arrangement that lasted for three years.

Ms Gago advised the chamber in the other place of these developments in April 2008. In 2011, the then minister for health, John Hill, was advised by the department that there had been no further accreditation issues since 2008. I quote:

A strategy has been implemented to reassure both the Department of Health and Ageing and the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency that improvements made in Makk and McLeay would be maintained…

There has been a significant amount of learning, changes and developments of individuals in their roles and functions within Makk and McLeay. Staff have a better understanding of the requirements under the Accreditations Standards and are aware of the need to pursue continuous improvement having a resident focus…

Older Persons Mental Health Services do not consider that accreditation is at risk, but as with any nursing home, there is potential for issues to arise that may impact on the accreditation [standard]…

When the ACH Group contract expired, meetings were held with the Department of Health and Ageing, which was supportive of the strategies suggested and confirmed that Makk and McLeay is no longer under the scrutiny generated by previous non-compliance with standards. The Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency was also supportive of the strategies outlined, and advised that Makk and McLeay can expect an unannounced review visit shortly following the end of the ACH Group contract.

Since 2010, the facility has received three-yearly accreditation renewals. As recently as March 2016, Oakden received full accreditation from AACQA until 2019. The 44 standards provide comprehensive coverage of all aspects of an aged-care facility, including management systems, staffing and organisational development, health and personal care, care recipient lifestyle, and physical environment and safety systems. I note the head of the AACQA, Nick Ryan, and his minister, Ken Wyatt, have now ordered a review of the agency in light of events at Oakden, which the state government welcomes.

As outlined in my previous ministerial statements, the community visitor contacted my office in October 2016 to raise concerns with me regarding the Spriggs' case at Oakden. As a result of this contact, I made inquiries to SA Health, which resulted in the CEO of the Northern Adelaide Local Health Network meeting with the Spriggs family. As a result of this meeting, I agreed to the review of the service in December 2016. The review into Oakden commenced on Monday 16 January.

Prior to the release of the Chief Psychiatrist's report, a number of actions were already being taken to improve care at Oakden. These include introducing further specialist clinical and senior nursing support, increasing the hours of the consultant psychiatrist and employing specialist mental health clinical pharmacists, a social worker, an occupational therapist and a nurse adviser. Since the release of the Chief Psychiatrist's review, further actions have been taken to ensure residents have the respect, dignity and level of care they deserve.

As the report recommended, the Oakden facility will be closed and all six of the review's recommendations have been accepted by the government. Some residents of Oakden will move to the Northgate aged-care facility, which has been scoped for a contract to complete the appropriate safety measures such as the removal and reinforcement of glass to ensure that the building is as safe as possible.

Since the review was released, a number of other senior staff (including a new head of unit) have been appointed. Dr Duncan McKellar, one member of the review panel, commenced in this role last week. An interim nurse unit manager with extensive aged-care dementia and regulatory compliance experience also commenced work at Oakden yesterday, Monday 8 May. Oakden now has senior support on site for residents and their families and carers seven days per week, 24 hours per day.

I can report that a number of staff have been suspended pending further investigation, and a total of 21 have been referred to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). While some of the staff are facing serious allegations and have therefore been suspended, others are accused of procedural failures and therefore do not warrant suspension but will be subject to training and performance management. I have also asked AHPRA to expedite its investigations into Oakden staff so that these matters can be dealt with as soon as possible.

It is important to point out that, while I am determined to ensure that any staff who have done the wrong thing are dealt with appropriately, I would like to acknowledge the work of the new staff at the facility and the tremendous difference that they and the new head of Oakden are already making to the safety and wellbeing of residents. We have begun the process of forming an advisory panel that will take responsibility for implementing all the recommendations within the report, including development of an appropriate model of care.

I am advised that the use of restraints at Oakden has already significantly declined since the completion of the review. I can also advise the house that an external clinical audit of other mental health and ageing facilities that house our most vulnerable will be conducted across SA Health. The Premier and I have also met with a number of family members of residents of the Oakden facility. It is important to hear their stories directly, and we will continue to meet with them at their request to update them on the recommendations' implementation.

The government has already supported a parliamentary joint committee on elder abuse to consider reports into abuse in non-government aged-care services. We now announce our intention to support an expansion of the terms of reference for the joint committee to consider the Oakden review. It will also consider the issue raised by the Hon. Kelly Vincent MLC in the other place in relation to the selection and screening of staff working in the aged-care sector in totality. I give a firm commitment to the families and residents of Oakden that I am committed to taking action and fixing this situation and ensuring it cannot happen again.