HOSPITAL BYPASS

Clinic stops referring victims to GCH after staffer groped teen

A SEXUAL violence crisis centre is refusing to refer rape victims to the public health system because management won’t shift a staff member who assaulted a girl.

Gold Coast Health says the man’s role does not compromise patient safety.

The man pleaded guilty to groping a 17-year-old outside work hours, telling her “no one has an arse like yours”.

RAPE and sexual assault victims are no longer being referred to Gold Coast Health after a senior staff member pleaded guilty to groping a teenager.

Gold Coast Health is refusing to move the staff member because it said his role did not compromise patient safety and that the health system was “not a substitute for the judicial process”.

For two months, the Gold Coast Centre for Sexual Violence has refused to recommend the public health system as a place for abused women to get vital checks.

Gold Coast Centre for Sexual Violence director Di MacLeod is outraged that the man was allowed to keep his job after admitting he assaulted a girl outside of work hours, and that two highranking staff members had provided glowing references during his court appearance.

One reference was on Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service letterhead.

The man, who cannot be named in order to protect the teenager, pleaded guilty in the Southport Magistrates Court in May to groping a 17-year-old girl.

When the man grabbed the teenager’s bottom, he told her “no one has an arse like yours”.

That night he sent her a series of text messages, including one which read: “Not all girls have a butt like that sweetie.”

He later apologised. The man was fined $5000 and no conviction was recorded.

Ms MacLeod said the decision to stop referring clients to Gold Coast Health was made on the day the man was sentenced.

“I don’t want to send women who are already unsafe into a situation which is also unsafe,” she said.

To protect the victims, the centre is referring rape and sexual assault victims back to their family general practitioner or other doctors who provide a bulk-billing service.

“If someone has done that to a young woman, how do you know he is not going to do that to another woman?” Ms MacLeod said.

The centre would refer a “handful” of alleged victims each month to the hospital, she said.

The referrals were to get sexually transmitted infection tests and ensure the woman was not injured during the attack.

Ms MacLeod was shocked staff provided supportive references to the court.

She compared the references to when former Prime Minister John Howard provided a glowing reference to Cardinal George Pell after he was convicted of abusing two boys. Cardinal Pell has since appealed the conviction.

“It doesn’t go very well for senior staff – they are prepared to protect a confessed sexual offender,” Ms MacLeod said.

In the references, both health workers said they were aware of the type of offence the man was pleading guilty to.

“When (name) deals with clients he is courteous and polite,” one of the references read.

“Clients are often embarrassed and overwhelmed at presenting to our service, (name’s) calm and gentle persona helps ease their distress.

“I am fully aware of the nature and seriousness of the charge against (name) and have no hesitation in providing this character reference.”

A Gold Coast Health spokeswoman said: “When one of our employees goes through the legal system, an assessment is made on their suitability to continue fulfilling their role.

“In this instance, we are satisfied that there is no compromise to patient safety.”