SSWAHS, Mr Dodds and his leadership style - a sychophant in the making?

Socrates again simply publishes the response of the complainant. Of course there has been no response from SSWAHS in general, or Ms Whalan in particular.

Ms Jan Whalan

Director of Corporate Services

SSWAHS

Locked Bag 7017

Liverpool BC 1871

31 December 2009

Dear Ms Whalan,

RE: Mr Peter Dodds

Thank you for your recent response to my letter of 16 October 2009 in which I directed comments to Mr Peter Dodds and Mr W M in respect of his reported statements about the referral of a patient to myself as a private practitioner.

To be blunt, I have to say that if Mr Dodds denies making any such statement to the staff of the Bowral Mental Health Service then the veracity of his denial is questionable. Also if the matter had been investigated by SSWAHS in any transparent and independent fashion I would have expected, at least, a conversation with the person conducting the investigation. The fact that I did not disclose the person or persons from whom I received the information about Mr Dodds’s statement is perhaps understandable given my recent experience of investigations by SSWAHS.

I will, however, state that the comments were made on a Tuesday morning when the rostered members of the Bowral Mental Health Team were present and in the company of Dr R W. As I understand it, it was Dr W who first made the suggestion that a particular client be referred to my practice. I suggest that the person responsible for investigating my original complaint revisit the matter and speak with staff other than person upon who the complaint is based.

Whilst I note the supposed NSW Health policy insists that the Mental Health Service has a ”long-standing practice of providing clients who require private sector services with the names of a range of clinicians who practise in a geographical area”, I strongly doubt that this is done without “commentary or opinion...... in relation to the skills of any of the clinicians listed”. If adherence to that NSW Health policy was the case why does Dr Angelo Virgona (SSWAHS) specifically refer his patients directly to individual private practitioners in the Bowral area, when other consultant psychiatrists employed by SSWAHS have been advised that they are not to do so?

I will contact Mr M for a copy of the list of private practitioners that is used by the Bowral Mental Health Team upon his return from leave.

Yours sincerely,

Kevin O’Neill

Psychologist and

Credentialed Mental Health Nurse

SSWAHS and another way in which it deals with complaints!

Socrates offers this example of how a person making a complaint can get the brush-off from the SSWAHS Executive when they want something to go the way in which they determine it should. You be the judge!

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

WITHOUT PREJUDICE

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.

Kevin O’Neill

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.