The mother of a young man who died in 2015 while in the care of Waikato DHB’s Mental Health unit has questioned whether the Government appointment of a Commissioner to replace the Board he plans to sack will do anything to sort out the difficulties between her whanau, the DHB and their bosses in the Ministry of Health.
Earlier this year, the Waikato DHB announced it had written to the Solicitor General trying to get the Coroners’ findings overturned in the Inquest into Nicky Stevens’ death. The DHB also took the unprecedented move of attacking the Coroner himself, demanding he be replaced. The Coroner had found, following an Inquest in 2018 into the death, that Nicky Stevens’ death was “avoidable”, and that a number of aspects of his care by the DHB were sub-standard.
Nicky Stevens’ mother, Jane Stevens, has strongly criticised the DHB for the attempt to overturn the Coroners’ findings, and the fact that the decision was made by Board Chair Sally Webb and current CEO Derek Wright, following consultation with the Ministry of Health, but never run by the Board itself.
Reacting to the Minister’s plan to sack the Board, Ms Stevens asked “Will a Government-appointed Commissioner drop the complaint by the DHB leadership against the Coroners’ findings over our son’s death.?”
“We know that the DHB leadership, but not the Board, consulted the Ministry of Health before taking this move, so we seriously doubt that a Commissioner appointed by the same group will reverse that appalling action.”
“By admission of the DHB Chair, the Minister and Ministry have had several discussions about our son’s case with the DHB leadership, and have had it in their power for some time to restore the proper negotiation and apology process with our whanau, but have chosen not to, and the DHB has copped a lot of bad publicity as a result.”
Ms Stevens pointed out that the “bad publicity” happened in the middle of the CEO-appointment process earlier this year, and led to the withdrawal of several candidates for the job, causing the appointment process to be halted.
“To our whanau, it doesn’t matter if a Commissioner is appointed or the current Board, perhaps under different leadership, continues.”
“What is most important to us, is that the Minister of Health overrule his officials from both the Ministry and the DHB, and order the current DHB leadership to withdraw their complaint to the Solicitor General about the Inquest into our son’s death.”
“That will help us with the grieving process, it will open the way to fresh negotiations with the DHB, and it will let us get on with our lives,” she finished.
