An audit of an intellectual disability residential service provider in Christchurch reveals a culture of assaults by people who live there on each other and also on staff.
A damning report has been released into the standard of care provided by Brackenridge Estate to 123 residents with an intellectual disability and 52 people who use its respite services. It has been criticised for the high number of assaults by patients on staff and fellow patients.
Stephen de Jonge's 15-year-old autistic daughter Zoe is a part-time resident and suffered carpet burns in November this year following what he believes was an assault by another patient.
Mr de Jonge told Radio New Zealand's Checkpoint programme on Friday it is the second time that his daughter has been assaulted since she started going there two years ago. He believes there has been a major breakdown in systems and Brackenridge's management need to be weeded out.
"A majority of ... the front-line staff actually do try to provide the best care that they can. And I personally feel that there is a lack of support from management, a lack of procedures being followed by management and it seems that they're trying to pass the buck."
The latest audit by the Ministry of Health is the third government report into Brackenridge this year and includes claims children there have been sent to school with mouldy bread, a lack of clothing and unexplained bruises. The report also found eight incidents of assaults on staff this year.
The report says one home had four people living in it, mixing a 42-year-old woman with teenagers who were still at school. It found what it calls "assaultive" behaviour was directed at the older woman. In another incident at that house, a family moved their daughter because she had become a target of the teenagers.
Another home was found to have a rat infestation, while another was damp, unheated and mouldy with rotten carpet. A lack of smoke alarms was detected in some homes.
A statement from Brackenridge on Friday said the problems identified in the audit are being addressed.
