Mr Peter Dodds
Acting Manager Wingecarribee Community Mental Health Service Wingecarribee Community Health Centre Bendooley Place, 22-24 Bendooley Street Bowral NSW 2576 16 October 2009
Dear Mr Dodds, I am writing to you to advise you that I have been informed that you, in the recent past, instructed your staff (including medical staff) that you did not believe that persons who have been terminated from the Area Health Service should have referrals of clients made to them. If this statement attributed to you is correct then I wish to inform you that it constitutes an imposition on my ability to conduct a business and carry out a trade. I am advised the legal position is that you could be challenged in court with posing an obstruction to my carrying on a legitimate trade or business, and the likely outcome is that damages can be awarded against you. To the current date there have been no conditions imposed on my ability to practice as a nurse registered with the NSW Nurses and Midwives Registration Board. To the current date there has been no conditions imposed upon my ability to practice as a psychologist registered with the NSW Psychologists Registration Board. The Health Care Complaints Commission has also indicated that they are not proceeding with complaints made by the SSWAHS and the client who initiated the complaint in the first instance. Since leaving the employment of SSWAHS I have been accepted by the Australian College of Mental Health Nurses as a Credentialed Mental Health Nurse. I have also been accepted as an Accredited AHP for the Non-Directive Pregnancy Support Counselling Program and I have been accepted as an Associate member of the Australian Psychological Society. If it comes to my attention again that you have determined a different outcome in the matter of that complaint, to the outcome stated by the HCCC and the Registration Boards, and you again inhibit the choice of clients from accessing my clinical services by making statements (such as the one noted above) to your staff I shall commence legal action against you.
Socrates was informed that the outcome was that Mr Dodds was asked by his manager whether he'd instructed his staff to refuse referrals to the complainant. Naturally, he said "No", even though he stated it to a room full of staff who had a different impression.
