Broughton Hall - reputational lessons

For the last six days, Victoria's major news outlets have repeatedly covered a story surrounding the sad deaths of five elderly patients at a Melbourne nursing home. It has been a classic case of a not for profit agency floundering in the face of a full-on media assault.

Broughton Hall is part of a larger aged care agency called Benetas. The staff and families of residents have been under seige since the story broke the Saturday after Easter.

As Management failed to adequately answer the media's questions, others weighed in to the empty space. Alleged whistleblowers made increasingly outrageous allegations, politicians of both the state and federal shade commented, more enquiries were called, all based on a whiff of scandal.

The facts as we know it.

• Five people have died. They were all very frail, with compromised health, and vulnerable to such virulent bugs as gastroenteritis.

• Salmonella has been confirmed in some of the deaths (but not all) and some of those still recovering.

The rumours.
1/ There has been a cover up with staff being under pressure to backdate health forms.
2/ A whistleblower at another Benetas facility has claimed sexual abuse by staff towards patients, and when the issue was raised was moved and eventually had employment terminated.
3/ A former chef at another Benetas facility has spoken of very poor hygiene standards in the kitchen.

Latest claims.
Broughton Hall's water has been tampered with, causing the salmonella outbreak. This has yet to be proven by the police or the Department of Human Services, although they have confirmed that the water is being tested.

The Enquiries.
A total of four. Two federal, one state and a coroner's enquiry into the deaths.

The Political Posturing.
Both State and Federal Health ministers have bowed into the crisis, both hinting of a cover up and both demonstrating their significant commitments to accountability by calling for enquiries.


This is a classic reputational crisis for an organisation. One major issue triggers several other crises, which divert attention from the major concern. Management is exhausted by trying to deal with the attention and has little ability to cope with the relentless nature of the media circus.

Lessons:

• Engage proper media advice before any crisis occurs
• Have a media crisis plan which is implemented the minute things go awry
• Always be honest with the media
• Never be defensive
• Keep the same spokesperson throughout
• Follow the advice of your media people
• Bring them in full time during the crisis
• Always keep the media informed - this will significantly slow their interest in side issues and ex employees with a grudge
• Be prepared to apologise for your mistakes, but don't point the finger at specific staff
• Take full ownership of the problem
• And schedule at least a day's debriefing after things have calmed down to learn from the process. Invite key staff, media consultant, and other relevant people to attend.