The Health and Disability Commissioner has criticised a psychiatric assistant who was convicted of indecently assaulting a patient.
The patient, who is referred to as Mr A in the HDC’s report, was admitted to Te Whatu Ora after being assessed as having a mental disorder.
Mr A was placed under observation due to concerns for his mental health.
The psychiatric assistant, who is named as Mr B, was in charge of observing Mr A over one night, which was when he indecently assaulted the patient.
After Mr A was discharged, the man told his key worker about the assault and reported the incident to police.
Following the initial incident, when Mr A was discharged, Mr B used personal records at Te Whatu Ora to find the patient’s personal phone number.
He contacted Mr A four times, trying to meet up with him at his home. Mr A recorded the phone call and gave it to police as evidence.
Soon after, Mr B was charged with indecent assault and pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 18 months intensive supervision.
This morning, his conducted was criticised by HDC deputy Dr Vansessa Cladwell, who said the psychiatric assistant took advantage of an “inherent power imbalance” between the pair.
“This arises from the nature of the relationship and is more pronounced in contexts such as this… Mr A was a vulnerable consumer, and he should have been in a place of safety," she said.
“Trust is fundamental to the relationship, in ensuring that the consumer is assured that the provider is acting with the consumer’s best interests in mind.
“It is critical that relationships between health professionals and their clients stay within the professional realm to avoid any exploitation or abuse of power.
“Mr A should have been in a place of safety. Mr B would have been well aware that Mr A was in a vulnerable state, and Mr B took advantage of this, thereby exploiting Mr A’s position at a time when he was at his most vulnerable.”
She said that because the indecent assault had already been through the justice system and the man was no longer a health professional, “further recommendations for actions were not required”.
Cladwell also took issue with Te Whatu Ora’s care following his disclosure of the incident.
“There was a ‘business as usual’ approach to Mr A’s care, which failed to acknowledge that he had been subject to an indecent assault while he was an in-patient of the very service that was supposed to be supporting him," she said.
She said the organisation should have apologised to the man sooner “given there were multiple opportunities to do so”.
Te Whatu Ora has since formally apologised to the man for his experience in its care, with Cladwell recommending it “develop a policy that outlines how support would be made available outside the service itself for any patient who is a victim of staff assault”.
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