Five months after a Halifax man was beaten to death outside a bar on Gottingen Street, the Nova Scotia government has released details of an independent review into the province’s health and justice systems.

The province has accepted 18 recommendations for change, but a close friend and colleague of murder victim Raymond Taavel says she was hoping for more.

While ministers talked about the report and listed the recommendations, Tynette Deveaux says she couldn’t help but notice what she considers a glaring omission.

“There’s no apology in here. There’s no acceptance that there was any negligence.”

Taavel was killed outside Menz Bar in April and Andre Noel Denny has been charged with second-degree murder in the case.

Denny was out on a one-hour pass from the East Coast Forensic Hospital at the time of Taavel’s death.

The report says he did not return to the hospital on time on April 16, and his absence was reported to the police.

“While it is small comfort, my pledge is that in Mr. Taavel’s honour and memory, we will learn,” says Capital Health CEO Chris Power.

The report provides 18 recommendations made in part by independent experts in forensic psychiatry from Ontario and British Columbia.

“I think this is a report prepared by experts largely for experts,” says Deveaux.

The recommendations include a daily assessment of a patient’s mental state, including all staff involved with the patient in risk assessment.

It also recommends more documentation and communication, onsite smoking facilities and exploring the use of cell phones and pagers to monitor patients.

It does not, however, recommend the use of GPS tracking devices.

“I’m not aware of information that shows a direct benefit with the GPS while balancing an individual’s right of free movement and association,” says Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry.

Despite the release of the review, critics complain there are still few answers about what happened the night Taavel was killed.

“This is a big hunk of paper that doesn’t accomplish anything,” says Tory health critic Chris d’Entremont.

“The one thing we couldn’t do would be to impede the criminal process,” says Nova Scotia Health and Wellness Minister Dave Wilson.

Deveaux says she understands that but she wishes the community had been consulted.

The province says it will issue a progress report within six months on the 18 recommendations it has accepted.

Denny is due back in court on Wednesday.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kayla Hounsell