The former chief executive of a Tasmanian hospital didn't make any inquiries about a male pedophile nurse who had worked at the facility's children's ward under his watch.
A commission of inquiry into child sexual abuse in the state's public service has this week examined the Launceston General Hospital and the case of James Geoffrey Griffin.
Griffin worked at the hospital for almost two decades and took his own life in October 2019 after being charged with child sexual abuse offences.
Stephen Ayre, who was the chief executive of the hospital from 2004-08, said he learned about "the issue" of Griffin "around the time of 2019".
"I'd have to say that I took a very peripheral interest because I didn't have any knowledge of it," Mr Ayre, the current director of medical services at the Royal Hobart Hospital, told the inquiry on Friday.
Counsel assisting the inquiry, Elizabeth Bennett QC, asked Mr Ayre whether he made any inquiries between 2019 and 2021 about Griffin's conduct.
"I did not make any inquiries. I had confidence the issues were being dealt with and would be uncovered and we would have knowledge of the issues as they unfolded and information became available," he said.
Hospital chief executive Eric Daniels on Thursday acknowledged "catastrophic" system failures in relation to how Griffin was handled.
Several survivors have told the inquiry about abuse by Griffin, who was the subject of multiple professional boundary breach reports at the hospital.
Hospital social worker Kylee Pearn said she informed human resources at a meeting in 2011 that Griffin had abused her as a child but was told nothing could be done without a conviction.
No physical record of the meeting exists.
Friday's public hearing ended during Mr Ayre's evidence following a medical episode in the hearing room.
The evidence of executive director of medical services Dr Peter Renshaw and department of health secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks has been pushed back to August.
The inquiry was called in late 2020, largely in response to allegations against Griffin receiving media coverage.
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