In recent months the AEAV has been advocating for numerous members who continue to be harmed by PCU failures. Volume One of the VEOHRC review detailed significant issues with the PCU. Some of which merely required short term fixes to reduce the harm caused.
When the VEOHRC review was announced we lobbied the Health Minister’s office for additional oversight to minimise harm. We were assured by the Health Minister’s office that things would be better because everyone was looking over PCU’s shoulder. We disputed this and the evidence continues to mount that the department is causing further harm.
Examples of failings in recent months include:
- Respondent returned to workplace in position of authority despite potential to interact with complainants in active investigation
- Staff who had been victim of vexatious complaints in past subjected to further vexatious complaint from same person without PCU checking voracity of new allegations
- Complainants not informed of respondent returning to workplace despite investigation still active
- Complainants and respondents not regularly updated on progress of matters they are a party to
- Nature of complaint not provided to respondent when removed from workplace
- Timelines for investigation not provided as per AV policy and procedure
- Correspondence to PCU managers not responded to in timely fashion
- Correspondence received by AEAV in which PCU managers have failed to adequately investigate concerns raised, causing additional harm
- Regional manager’s not competently fulfilling their role in PCU matters and provided with contradictory advice by PCU
- Decisions and progress in cases unreasonably delayed
- Inconsistent application of Temporary leave with justifications not forthcoming for removing employee from workplace
Effectively all of these issues listed above come back to decisions by PCU management.
Involvement with the PCU is one of the most stressful things an AV employee will experience in their career, and the failings of the department over many years continues to ruin careers and drive both complainants and respondents to resignation.
Procedural changes in complaint reporting will take some time to implement, however adequate resourcing would immediately mitigate some of the harm caused and it is the senior managers of the PCU that have the power to make this happen.
