Ex-SA Chief Psychiatrist suspended
South Australia’s former Chief Psychiatrist – who authored a damning report exposing neglect and abuse of patients at the now-closed Oakden facility – has been suspended from his current senior role by Australia’s medical regulator.
The Oakden Older Person's Mental Health Service. Photo: Tony Lewis / InDaily
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency said today that Dr Aaron Groves was suspended by the Medical Board of Australia on Monday, leaving him unable to practise.
No reason has been publicly announced for the decision.
“Due to privacy provisions in the national law, we cannot comment further,” an AHPRA spokeswoman said on Friday.
The regulator said national boards have the power to suspend a practitioner’s registration pending further investigation.
Groves, who was appointed to his Tasmanian post in September 2017, was previously SA’s Chief Psychiatrist.
He left the position shortly after writing a report detailing myriad concerns over treatment and abuse of patients at the Oakden Older Person’s Mental Health Service.
The Weatherill Labor Government committed to closing the facility after it released the report in April, 2017.
A key community advocate called for a full independent inquiry claiming SA Health had ignored repeated warnings over the quality of care at the Oakden site over six years.
Then-Premier Jay Weatherill apologised for the scandal but said what occurred at the facility was in breach of government health policies, effectively blaming public sector employees rather than a failure of ministerial oversight.
Barb Spriggs, who blew the whistle on the mistreatment of her late husband Bob at the facility, said at the time: “It’s appalling to think that this has been going on for 10 years before this can of worms got opened.”
An ICAC report in February 2018 found that Groves “played a critical role in uncovering the egregious standard of care provided to consumers at the Oakden Facility”.
“His review was thorough and his report comprehensive,” then Commissioner Bruce Lander found. “However, I have also found that he could have taken steps to investigate Mrs Spriggs’ complaint earlier in 2016 (about the treatment of her husband in Oakden).
“I have also found that he ought to have exercised his powers to make unannounced visits to the Oakden Facility before Mrs Spriggs made a complaint. Notwithstanding those findings, I am not satisfied that the evidence is sufficient for a finding of maladministration in respect of Dr Groves.”
-with AAP
