13/05/2020
Aged Care Needs a Health Warning
I’m not a professor, a doctor or any sort of clinician. I’m not a writer or a journalist. I am a mother, a sister, a partner, a daughter, a friend and an ex wife. I own a shop from where I sell secondhand frocks. I’m also a concerned person who’s had experience of the aged care system and quickly discovered it’s a place that needs a health warning.
Eight years ago my mother, who was in aged care, died suddenly. Before she died we experienced 18 months of a system that was so appalling that we couldn’t believe it. It’s only when you become involved with aged care that you’ll discover how odious it can be. Since Mum’s death I’ve continued to speak up and learn a lot about the system. What I have found was, that in many homes around the country life for residents is a nightmare: in many homes, the simple act of going to the loo or the basic need of having a sip of water is denied.
Before you shout ‘Not all aged care facilities are bad’, I know, I’ve heard there are good aged care facilities and I know there are many dedicated staff, nurses, personal care assistants, cooks, cleaners, management, CEOs and owners, but can you tell me where these facilities are, and why they are good? ‘Good’ aged care providers have remained silent for many years. They haven’t stood up and proclaimed their innocence. Why?
Moving into an aged care facility without being fully informed is dangerous. It could see your loved one or yourself dying prematurely from a preventable death. At the moment, where you end up is pot luck. As it stands there is no real information available to help families make an informed choice. Information on staffing ratios or the staff skill mix is not available. There is little or no information about infection control, wound control, falls, malnutrition, dehydration or the litany of other complaints received by facilities and government agencies. Until this information is made available to the public we are driving blind, relying on glossy brochures to make our decisions. The impoverished elderly don’t get any choice either; they are placed in the first facility to have an available bed. The facility might be good but it might also be bad. Either way they are in the same position – pot luck.
Lack of transparency and probity checks are the root of the problems.
Before 1997 aged care service providers received two separate funding grants from the tax payer, one amount for staffing, the other for running the facility. Prime Minister John Howard abolished this in 1997, preferring instead to give aged care service providers a lump sum payment for them to use as they saw fit. There is no requirement for the facility to report to the Commonwealth Department of Health – or to anyone – where the money goes. This remains so today.
Also in 1997 probity checks for approved providers were abolished, which meant that the Department of Health didn’t have to check the background or character of the person or organisation applying for approved aged care provider status – and still doesn’t. That meant that unscrupulous providers could do as they pleased, it was at this time care staff were reduced and the quality of aged care started to go to hell in a hand basket .
Malnutrition, dehydration, pressure sores.Poor infection control and falls are all preventable. They can be killers if not managed. Other risks include abuses by inappropriate staff hired by incompetent human resources officers. An Opal Aged Care facility was razed to the ground by nurse Roger Dean; the fire killed eleven residents and caused severe bodily harm to eight others. How on Earth did Dean get that job? For the most part, nurses, personal care attendants and anyone at the coalface are doing the best they can in very trying conditions, but unscrupulous aged care providers make it difficult for staff to do a good job. Most facilities are understaffed and have very few skilled nursing staff. With many residents having complex care needs more well-trained and qualified nurses need to be employed. This will, of course, lead to better outcomes for residents.
What needs to happen?
First of all, the public needs to be able to access a database that contains all the information about facilities laid bare. We want to know which facility has the best care, the fewest preventable deaths. We want to know if residents are malnourished, dehydrated, how many deaths from sepsis have occurred because of poor wound care, how many residents have died from gastro or flu outbreaks that were poorly managed, the number of deaths attributed to chemical and physical restraints and about all the other complaints. Doing this will drive unscrupulous and unsuitable aged care service provides from the sector, or it will improve the quality of their service. We also want separate tax payer funding for direct care staff, this is essential to prevent the funding being spent unwisely.
Who’s to blame for this state of affairs? Approved providers? The boards, CEOs and management? Ultimately, it’s the Commonwealth Department of Health for choosing such unreliable and unscrupulous providers who don’t care a jot about our elderly. Every model, private for profit public for profit, community, church, state, not for profits, have all been guilty of neglect.
It won’t be long before people get the courage to sue, to sue the aged care facilities, their owners, their boards, their managements and the Commonwealth Department of Health for breach of care. They can’t keep getting away with this negligence. Our trust has been broken. It will take strong measures to regain it.
Please sign this petition to mandate staff to resident ratios in aged care because one day it could be you calling for help and no one will come. It’s a step in the right direction.
https://www.change.org/p/mandate-aged-care-staff-resident-ratios-stop-the-neglect
Jane Seaholme.
