{"id":28879,"date":"2026-07-14T12:11:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/?p=28879"},"modified":"2026-07-14T12:20:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T02:20:32","slug":"important-update-for-whiddon-maclean-mareeba-employees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/important-update-for-whiddon-maclean-mareeba-employees\/","title":{"rendered":"Important Update for Whiddon Maclean Mareeba Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Team,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Further to the\u00a0recent\u00a0communication we\u00a0sent\u00a0you\u00a0on\u00a024<\/span>th<\/span> June , today we have received further information regarding this matter. A former employee of our home has been\u00a0\u00a0arrested and charged in relation to the alleged sexual assault of a resident. This news is\u00a0\u00a0deeply distressing and will come as a shock to our beautiful community.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We understand this news will be\u00a0upsetting\u00a0for residents,\u00a0families\u00a0and our wider community. We want to provide you with the information we\u00a0are able to\u00a0share\u00a0at this time.\u00a0We expect that there will be media stories about the arrest and want to keep you informed as the\u00a0issue\u00a0unfolds.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Police investigation\u00a0commenced\u00a0following a report that an assistant nurse had allegedly sexually assaulted a resident between November 2023 and February 2024. Whiddon was only recently notified that Police were\u00a0conducting an investigation\u00a0and has cooperated fully with their enquiries.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As soon as we became aware of the allegations, we reported the matter to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission and have continued to support all necessary investigations.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Police have\u00a0advised\u00a0that the matter relates to one resident. We have been providing support to the resident and their family and understand that no other residents or employees have been identified as being involved. Based on the information currently available to us, we believe this to be an isolated incident.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While the alleged offence is reported to have occurred before Whiddon commenced management of the home, we have\u00a0commenced\u00a0our own review to ensure our safeguards, screening practices and procedures\u00a0remain\u00a0robust and continue to protect the safety and wellbeing of residents.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We recognise that many employees may find this news confronting, particularly those who work closely with residents and families every day. Please remember that incidents of this nature are not reflective of the values, professionalism and dedication\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0by our teams across Whiddon.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As this matter is now before the courts, we are unable to provide further detail\u00a0regarding\u00a0the charges or the individual involved. We ask all employees to respect the privacy of those affected and refrain from discussing unconfirmed information or commenting publicly, including on social media.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We also encourage anyone who is feeling distressed or impacted by this news to access confidential counselling and wellbeing support through Hapstar. This is available free of charge to all employees and their immediate family members.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have questions or concerns, please speak with your manager or contact the People & Culture team.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Thank you for your professionalism,\u00a0compassion\u00a0and continued commitment to providing safe, high-quality care to our residents.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kind regards,<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Whiddon Team<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Team,\u00a0 Further to the\u00a0recent\u00a0communication we\u00a0sent\u00a0you\u00a0on\u00a024th June , today we have received further information regarding this matter. A former employee of our home has been\u00a0\u00a0arrested and charged in relation to the alleged sexual assault of a resident. This news is\u00a0\u00a0deeply distressing and will come as a shock to our beautiful community.\u00a0\u00a0 We understand this news […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28879"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28879\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28886,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28879\/revisions\/28886"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiddon.com.au\/comms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}