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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.
Key points:
- Launceston General Hospital medical services director Peter Renshaw has told a commission of inquiry he couldn't answer a question about the hospital's safety
- Commissioner Robert Benjamin suggested the hospital's leadership had been dysfunctional because it had no clear focus on protecting children from sexual abuse
- Dr Renshaw offered an apology to the family of Zoe Duncan for comments he made during evidence on Thursday
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.
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."
Ms Morgan-Wicks is also giving evidence to the commission today.