The findings of the coroner in regard to the death of Peter Zovak (“Inquest finds man’s care not adequate”, June 24, p1) highlights yet again the serious failings of mental health services in the ACT. The coroner states that “Peter Zovak did not receive an adequate level of mental health care”, that the failure of the Crisis and Assessment Team to respond to a call for help from the family “was not reasonable”, that a CATT worker made “a serious error of judgment when he declined the call for help” and questions whether the CATT “as it is presently structured is best equipped to meet community need”.  Furthermore, ACT Health’s own Clinical Review Committee concludes “there were missed opportunities to clarify the patient’s diagnosis and to offer more assertive treatments. The clinical significance of the patient’s deterioration … was not properly judged and family concern was not acted on”. I despair when I see the paltry response from the ACT Health spokesman that the “service would continue to review and update procedures in line with an internal action plan”. What a joke. Don’t they realise that someone has died? The coroner concludes that “any link between ACT Mental Health’s failures and Mr Zovak’s death would be speculation”. Many of us who have struggled in vain to get adequate care for our family members from ACT Mental Health beg to differ.

This article first appeared Sydney Morning Herald, 25 June 2015.