Episode One: 7th June 2011 letters to NSW Health employees

As the Primary Carer for a woman, Ms H, who suffers from a mental illness, I have been trying, for many years now, to obtain from NSW Health, treatment for her illness. Until very recently appropriate treatment had been denied to her for a decade – for reasons that will become apparent as this saga unfolds.

A behind-the-scenes dispute with NSW Health that had been simmering for years began in earnest when Dr Peter Young called the employer of Ms H and said certain things that resulted in Ms H losing her job. The job was important to her not just as a source of income but as a means whereby she could feel herself to be a contributing part of the community. Ms H loved her job, she was very good at it, and was devastated to lose it.

For the past year I have been trying to get answers from NSW Health to a variety of questions relating to Ms H’s loss of her job. I sent my first letters relating to Dr Young’s phone call one year ago today. Many letters later (to Minister for Health Jillian Skinner, Minister for Mental Health Kevin Humphries and Premier Barry O’Farrell amongst others) I am still waiting for answers to my questions. Along the way I have learnt a good deal about how NSW Health ignores and breaches its own guidelines, how its spin doctors operate, how useless the Health Care Complaints Commission is and of the many different tactics NSW Health uses to avoid answering any questions at all.

In the spirit of Wikileaks I will now publish online, in chronological sequence, all of my attempts to get answers to questions – until such time as they are forthcoming. Within days of my sending the following letters to Drs Young and Paton a sequence of dramatic events occurred that highlight just how badly NSW Health is in need of reform. The first task: get rid of the spin doctors.

Dr Michael Paton
Clinical Director, Mental Health Drug and Alcohol
Northern Sydney Local Hospital District  &
Central Coast Local Hospital District
NSW Health Service - Health Reform Transitional Office Northern
Cameron Building, Macquarie Hospital
North Ryde NSW 2113                                                                                                 7^th. June 2011

Dear Dr Paton

Further to our email correspondence of the past few days.

As you know I have been trying, for many years now, to do all I can to see to it that (Miss H) receives appropriate care from NSW Health for her psychiatric problems. A considerable weight of evidence suggests that these attempts have been thwarted at every turn – firstly by Dr Ladd and, over the past three years, by Dr Peter Young.

In support of this allegation, let me draw your attention to the following – written by a Barrister (who is now a Magistrate) in March 2006:

“I have known Ms H in a professional capacity for over five years. During that time I have had close contact with her and her carer. I am well acquainted with her numerous health and psychological difficulties.

I am aware that Ms H has been effectively denied medical treatment in her local area. I have personal knowledge of the difficulties she has faced at local hospitals, having spoken to medical staff on her behalf on numerous occasions and having attempted to assist her gain admission on more than one occasion. I have also spoken to medical personnel in Sydney who were frustrated by her local area’s refusal to adequately support and treat Ms H….The entrenched nature of the difficulties make it hard to believe that Ms H will ever receive comprehensive care in the local area.

There are several doctors that will, if need be, attest to the truth of what this Barrister/Magistrate has placed on record. Ms H’ difficulties in obtaining treatment appropriate to her ‘psychological difficulties’ is, I believe, part of a large problem that she confronts when she comes into contact with NSW Health.”

Please find enclosed a copy of a letter to Dr Young in which I seek to obtain from him definitive answers to a few basic questions that may help illuminate the larger problem to which I refer. As well as to yourself, I have copied this letter to Dr Catherine Drew also, as I understand that she has had a conversation with Dr Young about the phone call he made to Ms H’ employer in early 2008.

best wishes

James Ricketson

cc Dr Catherine Drew

Dr Peter Young

Mental health Intensive Care Unit

Hornsby Hospital

Palmerston road

Hornsby 

NSW 2077                                                                                                                                 7th June 2011

Dear Dr Young

In November 2007, prior to her having major surgery for the removal of a Harrington’s Rod,

(Ms H) was employed by the federal government as a ‘Home Carer’.

In Feb 2008, in your capacity as a psychiatrist, you had some dealings with (Ms

H) at MHICU at Hornsby Hospital.

As a result of these dealings, did you at any time call Ms H’ employer and have a

conversation with her? This question requires only a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.

If you did call Ms H’s employer, was it in your official capacity as a psychiatrist

employed by NSW Health to do so? If the answer is ‘yes’, did you keep a record of your

conversation with Ms H’s employer? If you did make a written record of this

conversation and its contents could you please provide a copy of it to Dr Michael Paton. If

you did not make any official record of this conversation, could you please explain your

purpose (either professional or personal) in making the phone call?

In the event that the telephone conversation with Ms H’s employer occurred, did you

speak with Dr Catherine Drew about it?

Do you recall receiving a phone call from Ms H, after you had spoken with her

employer, in which Ms H, in tears, told you how much she loved her job and how

distressed she was to have lost it? Did you make a record of this telephone conversation with

Ms H?

best wishes

James Ricketson

cc Dr Michael Paton

Dr Catherine Drew