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Gayle Woodford inquest told health council did not assess risk for outback nurses working alone
By Claire Campbell
The outback health service provider which employed murder victim Gayle Woodford ignored police advice that its nurses should not work alone, an inquest has heard.
The recommendation from senior police on the APY Lands in remote South Australia was made to Nganampa Health Council (NHC) management in 2012, following the sexual assault of another of its nurses in a different outback community.
That community's clinic was closed down because of the attack.
Mrs Woodford was raped and murdered while alone and on-call in the community of Fregon in 2016.
She had worked for the NHC for five years, and her attacker Dudley Davey was sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 32 years in 2017.
David Busuttil — who was the NHC's health services manager when Mrs Woodford was killed — told the coronial inquest into her death his organisation had never carried out risk assessments for nurses working alone until after the murder.
"It took that to get external advice but I thought we were addressing these issues as best we could and taking steps to make staff safer," he said.
Mr Busuttil, who left his NHC role in 2018, said he could not recall the specific meeting with police where they advised him and other NHC staff not to allow nurses to work alone, but told the inquest that officers "did say something like that".
"I don't recall doing anything specific with [the advice]," he said.
Police also suggested the clinic's staff undertake personal safety training which officers were "happy to provide".
NHC closed down a health clinic in another APY Lands community — which the ABC has chosen not to name for legal reasons — following the sexual assault of a nurse inside that clinic.
"There were three serious incidents there, there was no police presence … there was no other nursing staff working in the community," Mr Busuttil told the inquest.
"I thought it was too risky to continue providing services.
"[It's] different to Fregon where there were multiple staff employed.
"The incidents that occurred at Fregon were generally during the day and with individual perpetrators."
The inquest heard the sexual assault in the other APY Lands community occurred at 2:00pm.
Nurses previously raised security concerns
The outback township of Fregon, in South Australia's far north-west, does not have a permanent police presence.
Police raised the idea of having security guards at health clinics, but Mr Busuttil said he had no recollection of such a suggestion.
"I don't recall that part of it," he said.
Deputy state coroner Anthony Schapel has previously heard that nurses in Fregon had also suggested to management the use of security guards to address their safety concerns.
But Mr Busuttil said he could only remember that being raised by a nurse on one occasion, and told the inquest he did not discuss the idea with other NHC managers.
"In retrospect, yes I should have," he said.
"We've always said to staff if it's too unsafe to provide healthcare, you don't need to provide healthcare."
The inquest heard the NHC had still done no financial modelling on employing a security guard at Fregon, despite that being a recommendation of an independent review following Mrs Woodford's death.
"The cost of it would have been outside any government agency," Mr Busuttil said.
"Plus I also know there'd be a big time lag if we had to construct a house [for a guard to live in]."
The NHC is mostly funded by the federal Department of Health.
Glynis Johns, a former doctor who had worked with Mrs Woodford in Fregon, yesterday told the inquest she found the level of violence so concerning she had suggested the community be closed unless better support was provided.
Dr Johns said she approached authorities multiple times to request a stronger police presence in Fregon.
Mr Busuttil today told the inquest that was one of the most commonly-raised issues at Country Cabinet meetings in the APY Lands.
"Anangu elders actually see policing as part of the strategy … they've supported lobbying to get a greater police presence," he said.
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Having worked in human services previously, I see this is another case of government agencies "we'll do everything by the book -- until it costs too much money."
Absolutely disgusting. I wonder how big a bonus "Mr Busuttil" received for saving so many precious dollars wasted on protecting workers' lives.
