Health department boss Kathrine Morgan-Wicks's tearful apology to abuse victims at commission of inquiry. The head of Tasmania's health department has made an emotional apology to the victim-survivors of child abuse within the health system, saying she was "personally horrified by the lack of empathy and humanity" shown by the department.
Department of Health Secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks also committed to making large-scale changes to ensure all complaints of child sexual abuse were acted upon in a trauma-informed way.
Tasmania's Commission of Inquiry into Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings is holding hearings in Launceston for two weeks and Ms Wicks — who became Secretary in September 2019 — appeared before Tasmania's on the final day of hearings on the health system.
Over the course of nine days, the commissioners have heard evidence from a range of victim-survivors who were abused by James Geoffrey Griffin, a paedophile who worked as a nurse on the children's ward at Launceston General Hospital (LGH) as well as accounts of other alleged abusers at the hospital.
It also heard about a litany of complaints, boundary breaches and red flags relating to Griffin that went nowhere.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-06/kathrine-morgan-wicks-tearful-apology-to-hospital-abuse-victims/101211244