A senior executive at the Launceston General Hospital says he is unaware of any changes to the hospital's systems since a pedophile nurse sexually abused children, and was unable to offer reassurance that children are safe.
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It has been revealed that a memo written by the same executive failed to inform his government superiors about child sexual abuse that had occurred within the hospital.
Launceston General Hospital executive director of medical services Peter Renshaw appeared before the Commission of Inquiry on Friday morning to continue giving evidence about his responses to child sexual abuse within Launceston General Hospital (LGH).
The morning's questioning focused on a briefing memo that Dr Renshaw wrote to the Health Department Secretary which failed to inform his superiors of child sexual abuse that was suspected to have occurred within the LGH.
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In 2019 on July 31, Dr Renshaw met with Tasmania Police who informed him of child exploitation material found on the phone of James Griffin, and requested assistance to assess whether the backgrounds in some of the photographs were the LGH.
At that time the police also spoke to him about an investigation into a sexual relationship that Griffin had with a former patient of the LGH who a child under the age of 12.
Dr Renshaw then met with police again on October 29, where the complaint from Kylie Pearn, that James Griffin had sexually abused her from age 7, was also discussed.
Around this time, Dr Renshaw also had a "corridor conversation" where he became aware that Ms Pearn had complained to LGH human resources years earlier about Griffin's offending.
Then a week after this conversation in November, Dr Renshaw wrote a memo to brief the secretary of events.
In one of the dot points within this memo, Dr Renshaw states that "Tasmania Police advise that there was no evidence to suggest that any criminal activity had taken place within or connected to the Launceston General Hospital".
In another, he states that "the LGH had not received any complaints from patients or families regarding inappropriate behaviour by Mr Griffin that would warrant [notifications]."
When repeatedly questioned whether this first statement did not accurately reflect the truth, and was wrong, Dr Renshaw stated that it was "poorly worded, but it was certainly not a deliberate mistake".
"I reject the proposition that the sentence is wrong. It does not convey what I was trying to convey...It was basically a recollection of what we were advised by Tasmania Police at that time," Dr Renshaw said.
When questioned about the second statement regarding complaints to LGH Dr Renshaw said he did not know about the Pearn disclosure as at July 31.
"The briefing is to give a sequence of events and chronology [leading up to Griffin's death and beyond] as we knew it at the time," he said.
On further questioning on whether the Pearn disclosure was omitted from the document, Dr Renshaw stated "if the Pearn disclosure is not there it should have been".
"I concede that there should have been a mention of the most recent information from Tasmania Police," he said.
He agreed that the Pearn disclosure highlighted a potentially significant failure in the system and processes of the LGH, that it warranted an immediate response from leaders at the LGH, that he was a leader and that he failed to act.
He did not accept that it was "materially misleading", nor did he have any regret.
When he was asked about whether the hospital had learned anything from the experience of having Griffin working on a children's ward, Dr Renshaw said he could not answer.
When asked about changes to the systems and processes at LGH since Griffin's offending, Dr Rensaw said he was uncertain "that there had been any marked changes".
Ms Bennett asked, "How can you be sure that it is safe in light of that observation?"
Dr Renshaw responded, "as I'm not aware of any formal action items, and what they would be intended to achieve, I really can't answer that".
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