‘Justice denied’ as wait drags on

Three years, three months and counting.

The care of a man who died of suspected suicide in Wellington Hospital’s secure mental health unit has been revealed as the oldest complaint yet to be resolved by the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC).

The first time Lyn Copland complained to HDC, her son Sam Fischer was still alive. She counter-signed a complaint that Fischer wrote in February 2014 about his mental health care.

There were further complaints later that year but the clock was reset after Fischer died in April 2015. A further complaint was laid in June that year.

Copland said the endless wait was cruel. ‘‘You don’t just sit back and wait for those results. There is interaction going on all the time. You have to be on high alert all the time. You constantly relive the detail in your mind.

‘‘They are always putting timeframes on us to respond but they don’t seem to put any on themselves.’’

According to information released under the Official Information Act, Fischer’s case is the oldest of 33 complaints that are older than two years.

Commissioner Anthony Hill said efficiency had improved after a growing deluge of complaints.

However, it now takes an average of two years to complete investigations, compared with 21 months in 2013/14.

HDC delays can affect other fights for justice.

The commission’s investigation is holding up the coroner’s inquest into Fischer’s death.

HDC is also the gatekeeper for health complaints to the Human Rights Review Tribunal (HRRT).

To complain about a breach of your health rights, your complaint must first be investigated – and a breach identified – by the Health and Disability Commissioner.

Given the wait for HRRT investigations is also two years, complainants face a four-year wait for justice.

‘‘Justice is denied, fundamentally,’’ said Glenn Marshall, who complained to HDC in April 2016 about the treatment of his severely disabled son Eamon.

He is still awaiting a final decision.

Marshall found the process convoluted, with complaints being passed from assessors to investigators, then on to the commissioner.

That was in contrast to his Privacy Commission complaint, where one person took the case to its conclusion.

He was also concerned that the vast majority of HDC complaints – 96 per cent – were closed without a formal investigation. While complaint numbers have soared, investigation numbers have not increased accordingly.

‘‘I dare say a hell of a lot of people, if they knew only 4 per cent of claims were investigated and they would take 30 months, just wouldn’t bother.’’

Hill said while some cases were complex and difficult to resolve quickly, he was concerned when complaints took two years or more.

The average time to resolve all complaints had remained steady at 3-4 months, in spite of a doubling in complaint numbers in the past decade, he said.

It was not clear what was driving the increase but the most common themes were treatment issues, communication, access and consent issues.

Hill said the office had significantly improved its efficiency and productivity and increased investigation resources.

It completed 102 investigations in 2017/18, compared with 80 in each of the previous two years.