Burns case reveals ‘serious concerns’
Concerns about management in a residential care home in Nelson were raised eight months before a disabled man was severely burnt in a bath.
The man suffered serious burns in the March 12 incident, which is being investigated.
PSA organiser Mike Cunliffe said he first raised concerns about poor management at the Disability Support Services (DSS) home for high and complex needs patients, and other DSS properties, in July last year.
He said there was a ‘‘climate of fear’’ among DSS workers which made them reluctant to speak out.
Cunliffe said he met Nelson Marlborough Health chief executive Peter Bramley and general manager of mental health, addictions and disability support services Jane Kinsey last September to discuss concerns about the ‘‘poor management practice’’ and behaviour within DSS.
He said feedback from union members working for DSS showed those who raised issues about management got little traction. In one case a union member was suspended after raising concerns.
‘‘This explains the climate of fear that pervades Nelson Marlborough Health and Disability Support Services. We are reluctant to get people to raise issues when there is no apparent safe or fair process.’’
Now when union members raised concerns, they made statements under the Protected Disclosures Act which provided protection for whistleblowers.
Kinsey said the health board wouldn’t disclose information about individual employees. ‘‘But it’s important for people to know that we encourage all employees, service-users and their families to raise any concerns. And all concerns are taken seriously by senior management.’’
PSA National Secretary Erin Polaczuk said the union was ‘‘gravely concerned’’ at the scalding incident but would not comment further on the specific incident while it was investigated. ‘‘However, there are serious systemic concerns around specific areas of DSS that need to be urgently addressed before further tragedies occur.’’
Polaczuk said the PSA had previously requested an independent investigation and a health and safety review, neither of which appear to have happened. She had sought a meeting with chief execu- tive Peter Bramley to ‘‘seek a constructive and inclusive solution.’’
Kinsey said an internal investigation into the incident was underway and expected to be completed in early June. It would identify any improvements and would be shared with the man’s family, Ministry of Health and WorksafeNZ.
‘‘We have recently undertaken a review to ascertain where further improvements can be made in our disability support area to ensure high quality care and support is provided for people who do have complex support needs.’’ Actions had been taken and further improvements identified.
‘‘We are focussed on continuing to ensure our houses are set up to prevent as many avoidable risks of injury as possible, as well as continuing to support our staff to provide high-quality disability support.’’
The residential care home is owned by Housing New Zealand. Spokesman Glenn Conway said contractors visited in January and made some minor repairs to the hot water cylinder. He said the temperature of the hot water was within safe levels, 55 degrees C in the cylinder and 45C at the tap, due to a tempering valve.
‘‘There was, however, evidence a cylinder valve may have been tampered with so they took the extra precaution of installing locks on the cylinder cupboards to ensure the temperature cannot be adjusted manually.’’