Woman's parents want an apology | Manawatu-Wanganui News | Local News in Manawatu-Wanganui

The family of the young woman at the centre of the latest investigation into shortcomings in Wanganui Hospital's mental health unit say they are still waiting for an apology from the district health board.

At the same time the parents say the review, carried out by the Ministry of Health, goes a long way toward exonerating the concerns they expressed about the care of their daughter.

The ministry's investigation followed revelations that two male healthcare assistants had been involved with a 24-year-old female who had been a patient at Te Awhina.

The woman is now a patient at Porirua.

The review, released last week, showed up serious shortcomings in the unit which the Whanganui District Health Board said it was addressing.

The woman's parents took their concerns to police and an investigation is under way. Yesterday the father told the Chronicle they "firmly believe" charges will be laid.

They claim their daughter had been sexually assaulted while in Te Awhina and claims by the WDHB that her relationship with the two former unit workers had involved consensual sex were incorrect.

"What we feel is that the board still owes us an apology. In their initial responses to this issue the board management implied our daughter consented to this behaviour but we want that put right because it was not like that," the father said.

"At least now the board appears to acknowledge the major shortcomings in the unit."

But he said the matter was not over for their daughter nor them yet because there was still the police investigation to be finished.

"They [police] have done a video interview with [our daughter] and their investigation carries on. We know it's going to be a long, drawn-out situation," the father said.

"The DHB refused to see us when at an early stage we could have put what evidence we had before them. We know a couple of board members wanted that to happen but it never did.

"We believe there needs to be an apology from the board and even some sort of compensation, because we've still got to get our daughter right," he said.

"She's now a year or two behind in terms of getting better. If these incidents hadn't have happened she may have been out of care. She could have moved on, but instead she's moved backward."

He said the one saving grace from all this was that the Ministry of Health had come back and dug much deeper into the operation at Te Awhina and shown up a lot of inadequacies that the board has promised to put right.

"We're pleased to hear the board recognises the failings at the unit, but we believe they at least owe our daughter and us an apology," he said.

And the mother said she was disappointed in a response the family received when they approached a Wanganui support group.