By Kate Hagan
FRANKSTON Hospital staff have regularly breached policies designed to protect mentally ill patients - despite warnings from management following three deaths in its psychiatric ward, a nurse has said.
In a rare insider's account, the nurse said she saw colleagues bully patients with threats to withhold their medication, put them in seclusion and administer electroconvulsive therapy during a two-year period at the hospital before she resigned in late 2009.
Sharon Fraser, with a picture of her husband Justin who died in Frankston Hospital, one of three deaths in the psychiatric ward.Credit: Eddie Jim
The nurse said she witnessed several disturbing incidents at the hospital and chose to leave after her complaints to management failed to bring changes.
The nurse's account is backed by a letter to ward staff in October 2008 from Peninsula Health chief executive Sherene Devanesen, who noted ''three unexpected deaths on [ward] 2 West in a short period of time''.
In Ms Devanesen's letter she said an investigation had highlighted areas of concern, and referred to a meeting at which staff were told that ''some areas of practice and behaviour were not consistent with Peninsula Health values and policies or with contemporary psychiatric practice''.
Dr Devanesen said the practice issues ''were not isolated'', but not engaged in by all staff. She said she was confident that ''the vast majority of staff will continue to demonstrate leadership in the delivery of best-practice patient care for our community''.
The Age believes that one of the deaths referred to by Dr Devanesen was Justin Fraser, 37, a patient with schizophrenia who stopped breathing while being restrained in a prone position on the floor by security staff following a struggle in October 2007.
A coroner is investigating whether Mr Fraser died of positional asphyxia, a form of suffocation that can occur when someone is restrained.
A 33-year-old woman patient with schizophrenia also died at the hospital after suffocating herself in May 2007. A coroner found the woman's treatment was appropriate.
The Age is aware of another death in which a woman patient drowned in a bath in 2008.
A Frankston Hospital spokesman said a staff member was dismissed and others were counselled or assigned to other duties as a result of a review following the deaths.
But the nurse said other staff members who remained in the ward continued to breach policies and bully patients to make them comply, such as: ■Threatening patients with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) if they refused medication.
■Locking the bathrooms of patients so they could not drink water, which impairs the use of ECT.
■Telling patients who were to be given ECT that there was no time for a second opinion from an outside psychiatrist, and having a hospital colleague sign off on it instead.
The nurse said staff often used seclusion as a punishment for male patients, ''usually at the first sign of aggression''.
''Instead of dealing with the problem behind it, they would just call a code, call security, jab him in the arse with drugs and lock him up,'' the nurse said.
The state government collects data on episodes of seclusion. Its guidelines say it should be a treatment of last resort, when danger is imminent.
The nurse said she made complaints to management throughout 2009 before resigning because ''my health could not endure the practices and culture at Peninsula Health''.
''It concerns me that loved ones don't know what's happening. What would the public's response be if they knew what was happening?''
Frankston Hospital clinical director of mental health Sean Jespersen said some staff were disciplined following the 2008 ward review, and the hospital reviewed clinical practice guidelines, specifically on seclusion.
For help or information visit beyondblue.org.au, call Suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 251, or Lifeline on 131 114.