My Account
The disappearance of a rest home resident from Leigh Road Cottage early last month will be the subject of an internal investigation, which will be reviewed by the Waitemata District Health Board (DHB).
Despite an intensive land and sea search by police in the Whangateau area, no trace had been found of 85-year-old Maree Wilkins as Mahurangi Matters went to press. She was last seen around 5.30pm on November 7.
DHB director of funding and planning Debbie Holdsworth says it is expected that when a resident goes missing, it is thoroughly investigated by the facility with a focus on identifying why and how the events occurred, and also any underlying system failures.
The DHB has requested the investigation findings be made available as soon as possible.
“The report will be reviewed to ensure that it is robust and all issues are identified and addressed,” Ms Holdsworth says. “We will monitor the facility to ensure all corrective actions are implemented.”
Leigh Road Cottage, which is one of the only specialist dementia units in the Warkworth area, was last audited against the Health & Disability Services Standards and the national Age Related Residential Care Agreement in February this year.
“The report shows a high level of compliance, with only one low risk corrective action relating to documentation.”
Ms Holdsworth says there is no evidence that any patient has gone missing from the home before.
“The facility has been audited and the physical environment meets requirements for a safe environment for residents with dementia. The facility investigation will try to ascertain how Mrs Wilkins was able to exit the dementia unit, and provide improvement opportunities.”
Leigh Cottage director Dennie Chiew was preparing the investigation report last week and hoped to have it to the DHB this week.
“I’d like to thank the public for their help in searching for Maree,” Dennie said. “This is a small community and a lot of care was shown around Maree being found.”
The Warkworth officer-in-charge told a public meeting, convened by the community in Whangateau on November 16, that there was no evidence to support the idea that Mrs Wilkins had left the area and although police couldn’t rule out foul play, they felt this was unlikely.
About 35 residents attended the meeting and expressed concern at the way the search had been conducted, particularly the lack of publicity when Mrs Wilkins was first discovered missing.
Several people felt that had the missing person been a child, “it would have been all over the media”.
As it was, even people in Warkworth were unaware of Mrs Wilkins’ disappearance.
Although a community search was suggested, police advised against it. However, the community did post flyers around the district in the hope that someone might come forward with information.
Aged residential care facility audit reports are publicly available on the Ministry of Health website at health.govt.nz/your-health/certified-providers/aged-care/leigh-road-cottage.
