The head of medical services at the Launceston General Hospital is "not aware of any marked changes" to systems and processes at the hospital after it became aware of the extent of paedophile nurse James Geoffrey Griffin's offending, a commission of inquiry has heard.
Peter Renshaw, giving evidence on Friday during a hearing of the Tasmanian Commission of Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in Government Institutions, was asked about what he knew about certain allegations against Griffin.
He was also asked what steps he took to respond to what counsel assisting the commission Elizabeth Bennett SC described as "substantial system failures at the hospital" that had been "unmasked" by the Griffin case.
"My responsibility was: report to AHPRA [Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency], standing down Mr Griffin and the liaison with the police," Dr Renshaw said.
'Not certain' of changes
"I was proactive in what I did, but I am just one of the executives; there were six or seven other executives – we couldn't possibly be all doing every aspect of what you're asking."
He said he was "not certain that there have been any marked changes" to systems and processes at the LGH in response to information about Griffin's offending.
"How can you be sure that it is safe in light of that observation?" Ms Bennett asked him.
"As I'm not aware of any formal action items and what they would be intended to achieve, I really can't answer that," he said.
Griffin was charged in 2019 with offences relating to several people. He was bailed and took his own life that year before he could be tried.
It subsequently emerged that he had continued to work in the LGH children's ward for years after the first complaint against him was made to the hospital.
Dr Renshaw told the commission he found out about a police investigation into Griffin on July 31, 2019.
Questions of leadership
Commissioner Robert Benjamin asked Dr Renshaw: "Would you believe it's open for us to find, at best, that the leadership at that time was dysfunctional as it had no clear focus on providing care for children and protect them from sexual abuse?"
Dr Renshaw replied: "I would not agree with that. In my view this was an unprecedented situation that … nobody had had any experience in.
"Probably what could be criticised, not being dysfunctional, but being not resilient or not flexible enough to try and work out better ways of ensuring the safety of the children in the hospital."
Commissioner Benjamin questioned his question:
"Could you really say that you had no experience? Because we have evidence before us of what happened to Mr Felton in 1989, what happened to Zoe Duncan in 2001, and what happened with Mr Griffin between 2000 and 2019.
"Do you still adhere to your evidence that it's not open for us to find that the leadership was dysfunctional following the death of Mr Griffin?"
Dr Renshaw replied: "It would be presumptuous of me to say it is not within your purview to do so, and, certainly, it is open for you to find that."
'That is not a lie'
Dr Renshaw denied that he lied to Health Department secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks in a briefing note.
The commission heard that Tasmania Police told Dr Renshaw on July 31, 2019, that it was investigating the sexual abuse by Griffin of a child under the age of 12 who had been a patient at the LGH.
The commission heard that police also informed Dr Renshaw on that day that the investigation included child exploitation material that included photographs, some of which may have been taken inside the LGH.
A briefing note to Ms Morgan-Wicks dated November 5, 2019, which Dr Renshaw told the commission he was involved in the drafting of, included the sentence:
"Tasmania Police advised that there was no evidence to suggest that any criminal activity had taken place within, or connected to, the LGH."
Ms Bennett asked Dr Renshaw if that was a lie.
"That is not a lie," Dr Renshaw said.
He told the commission, "It should have been worded better" and that "the 'or connected ' is an error'."
The commission heard the file note also contained no mention of Kylee Pearn's 2011 disclosure that Griffin had sexually abused her when she was a child, years earlier.
Dr Renshaw told the commission he became aware of Ms Pearn's disclosure in 2019, before November 5.
"If the Pearn disclosure is not there, it should have been," he said.
Dr Renshaw told the commission that when he became aware of Ms Pearn's disclosure he took no steps in response to it and did not equip anyone senior to him to take any steps.
"Do you regret that?" Ms Bennett asked.
"Yes," he said.
'Misleading' note
During her evidence on Friday, Ms Morgan-Wicks said she felt the briefing note was "misleading" and "designed to reassure me that there was nothing to see here in terms of the LGH".
"I'm absolutely horrified, to be honest, that I haven't received the information at that date and I question myself what I could have done better to try and find out that information."
Ms Morgan-Wicks said she "didn't understand" the response of those working in the hospital who were told about Ms Pearn's disclosure by a police officer in 2019.
She said that should have triggered an immediate review of why no action had been taken at the time Ms Pearn made the disclosure, almost a decade earlier, as well as what support needed to be provided to Ms Pearn.
Ms Morgan-Wicks, however, did tell the commission she did have enough information from the November 5 briefing note to take further action herself.
"I will accept that at that point I could've undertaken an additional investigation."
Ms Morgan-Wicks said that in October 2020, following the release of a podcast and media reporting about Griffin, she started an internal and then an independent investigation.
Apology to Integrity Commission
Ms Morgan-Wicks told the commission she and the Integrity Commission had been "misled" by information prepared by a human resources manager.
The Integrity Commission had asked for an investigation and information from the hospital, in relation to allegations against Griffin.
While Ms Morgan-Wicks signed the response to the Integrity Commission, she said the information she provided came from human resources manager James Bellinger, who had a conflict because he had been involved in an earlier review.
The letter that went back to the Integrity Commission said:
"In conclusion, the THS [Tasmania Health Service] has reviewed all available records and determined that all matters that were raised with the agency were addressed in a manner that was reasonable in the circumstances that existed at that time.
"The decisions made over the past 15 years were without the benefit of the information that now exists as a result of the police investigation [into Griffin] and the management actions cannot be judged with this in mind."
On Friday, Ms Morgan-Wicks said she "wrote to the Integrity Commission to apologise for not including [Ms Pearn's disclosure] as it was known to officers of mine but not to myself at the time I signed the letter".
Ms Morgan-Wicks told the commission she had made changes to the way complaints and Integrity Commission requests are dealt with – they all now go through her office, rather than being handled by the relevant hospitals.
She said she was working to bring about change, including cultural change within the health service, to put child safety at the forefront.
"This is the very start for us, but we are absolutely determined to get this right."
Ms Morgan-Wicks said 17 per cent of the health workforce was registered with Working With Vulnerable People, but "that will be extended to 100 per cent".
Apology to Duncan family
In evidence he gave the commission on Thursday, Dr Renshaw was accused of showing an "astonishing lack of insight" into the pain he was causing the family of Zoe Duncan by speculating on a rape allegation she made against an LGH doctor, saying he did not believe it had happened.
Ms Duncan was 11 years old, and a patient at the LGH, when the alleged rape occurred.
Dr Renshaw on both days told the commission he was not aware of Child Safety Services' view that Ms Duncan had been assaulted.
"My evidence to that point was on the assumption of what I knew in 2003 or whatever," he told the commission on Friday.
"I regret not knowing that information and I know the suggestion caused additional grief to the Duncan family and for that, I apologise. I should have known about the re-evaluation of the case."
