The head of Tasmania's health department has made an emotional apology to the victim-survivors of child abuse within the health system, saying she was "personally horrified by the lack of empathy and humanity" shown by the department.
Department of Health Secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks also committed to making large-scale changes to ensure all complaints of child sexual abuse were acted upon in a trauma-informed way.
Tasmania's Commission of Inquiry into Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings is holding hearings in Launceston for two weeks and Ms Wicks — who became Secretary in September 2019 — appeared before Tasmania's on the final day of hearings on the health system.
Over the course of nine days, the commissioners have heard evidence from a range of victim-survivors who were abused by James Geoffrey Griffin, a paedophile who worked as a nurse on the children's ward at Launceston General Hospital (LGH) as well as accounts of other alleged abusers at the hospital.
It also heard about a litany of complaints, boundary breaches and red flags relating to Griffin that went nowhere.
At the time, parents, staff and victim-survivors all tried to report Griffin.
Meanwhile, senior staff at the hospital have revealed they had no training in grooming behaviour, the complaint system wasn't designed to catch child abuse and they have conceded that at no stage were the complaints properly investigated.
When Griffin's paedophilia was finally revealed in 2019, the hospital did not undertake a robust review to attempt to understand how a paedophile operated on its children's ward for 18 years.
Ms Morgan-Wicks has sat through every day of these health hearings.
She's listened as victim-survivors have shared their deepest traumas, as staff relayed their attempts to report concerns about Griffin, and as senior staff conceded there were catastrophic failures within the system.
On Tuesday, Ms Morgan-Wicks apologised "from the heart".
"I am personally horrified by the lack of empathy, humanity and, often, a lack of trauma-informed approach by my Department and the Tasmanian Health Service to such devastating accounts of abuse from the victim-survivors, who have shown immense courage to come forward," she told the commission.
"I also acknowledge the victim-survivors that have made submissions to the inquiry but have not been called, those [who] have chosen to remain silent, and those [who] are wracked with uncertainty, unaware if they or their children may have been patient victims of James Geoffrey Griffin or other, as yet unnamed, perpetrators within our health system."
'I wish I had asked more'
Ms Morgan-Wicks said sitting through the hearings this week, she had had many "'I wish moments".
She said she was "personally devastated by the lack of care or supports offered to victim-survivors" or their families when they reported their abuse and the lack of proper procedure, record-keeping and training in regards to grooming and abuse of a child.
"They all share a common story of feeling fobbed off, their abuse minimised, or their complaint ignored, and they did not feel supported in relation to the serious harms or incidents they reported," she said.
"This is wrong and an absolute failure by our health system, for which I am deeply sorry."
Ms Morgan-Wicks also committed to make large-scale changes to ensure any complaint of child sexual abuse would be independently reviewed and acted upon in a trauma-informed manner. She said she had also invited victim-survivors to be part of that change.
"While my words alone will not heal the hurt of all those that have suffered, nor will words alone comfort those [who] will never know if they or their children were victims, I will do my very best to lead [the Department of] Health to right the wrongs of the past, so that no one in Health now, or our employees of the future, will ever forget the reasons why we must place the safeguarding of children and the vulnerable at the centre of our care."
Ms Morgan-Wicks then went on to individually apologise to each victim-survivor who appeared at the commission.
To Ben Felton:
"The terrible hurt that you suffered as a boy in 1989 and the lasting and devastating impact that this has had on your life and on your family's life will stay with me forever. You kept coming back to Health to ask for an apology and for help and we failed to provide you with either. I am so very sorry that we failed you."
To the family of Zoe Duncan:
"To the memory of Zoe Duncan, to Mr and Mrs Duncan, and also to Amanda Duncan, you have waited a long time for [Department of Health] to believe and let me say that as the leader [of the department], I believe. I am very sorry for what you have gone through for so many years to re-tell Zoe's story. I offer my deepest apology to you for our failure to hear what Zoe tried to tell us."
To Kirsty Neilley:
"I apologise for what happened to you and that you are now forced to look back and question what might have occurred given the escalation in grooming behaviours perpetrated by Griffin. What he did was wrong and we should have done more to escalate our concerns and take action against him and, for this, I am sorry."
To Angelique Knight:
"I reconfirm my deepest apology to you for the harm you have suffered that started inside the walls of our hospital and continued outside. I am so sorry you have felt like a number in our system and not supported by my department to help you report Griffin's offending. You have been so brave to come forward, particularly with your serious health issues, and I'm committed to working with you to find a better way to support you to attend LGH or elsewhere to receive the care you need."
To Tiffany Skeggs:
"While I recognise your trauma began outside of the walls of the hospital, I apologise to you for the Department of Health's systemic failures to properly act on previous complaints to us regarding James Griffin. I thank you for your amazing bravery in reporting Griffin and in your central role in exposing the truth of this matter. I admire you as I believe you are a very strong female leader and, in my view, a warrior in this."
To Keelie McMahon and her mother Annette:
"Keelie, I am truly sorry for the pain and suffering that you have experienced, which I heard for the first time through The Nurse podcast. Annette, I am so very sorry that, after years of service, you discovered this terrible truth and were forced to try to reconcile, without proper support from the department, your memories of Griffin as a former colleague and friend with the reality of what he was and what he had done to your daughter.
"Keelie, I want you to know that your story has made a long-lasting impression on me. In particular, I will not forget your account of being on Ward 4K in 2021 with your baby son without support and without trauma-informed care."
To Kylee Pearn:
"It was devastating to hear your story and I make a sincere and deep apology for the systemic failures of the Department of Health and all agencies to properly refer and act on your 2011 complaint, which you told us as one of our own employees. I am personally very sorry for the way that your very first disclosure of the terrible trauma you suffered was treated by the Department of Health."
Ms Morgan-Wicks also apologised to others who suffered abused.
"To Kim, and to the memory of your daughter, Paula, your bravery in coming forward to tell your daughter's story of being a long-term patient on Ward 4K is significant. I apologise to Paula, and to you, Kim, to have to carry this trauma on top of your grief for the loss of your daughter."
"To Robyn and her daughter, Lillian, as Lillian's mother you knew that something was wrong and that Lillian was significantly distressed in attending the LGH Ward 4K. You tried to tell staff of your concerns and that you and your daughter were not treated with dignity or respect and these concerns were not acted upon. I apologise to Lillian for the harm you have experienced. I also sincerely apologise to Robyn and I thank her for sharing her story with us."
The commission is conducting hearings in Hobart and Launceston until August 19, with live streaming available.
Note: Apologies have been edited for length.
