Will 'grey power' be a factor as New South Wales goes to the polls on Saturday?

COTA NEW SOUTH WALES

MEDIA RELEASE

Monday 23 March 2015

POLL SHOWS OLDER VOTERS CAN NO LONGER BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED 

IN NSW ELECTION

A poll conducted by COTA NSW during Seniors Week showed that 65% of respondents do not believe that they’re a priority for politicians in the run up to the New South Wales (NSW) election on 28 March.

“We surveyed hundreds of people attending Seniors Week events and found a high level of dissatisfaction among older voters. For too long the major parties have tended to assume that older voters are ‘rusted on’, and their votes can be taken for granted. This is no longer the case.”

Over 43% of the State’s electorate is aged 50 and over, which translates to almost 2.5 million people.

“Once again we’ve seen few election commitments targeting older voters,” said Mr Day. “We were pleased to see the Premier commit $343 million to extend vital concessions for seniors. But aside from this, we’ve seen little focus on older people’s needs.”

“Older voters helped make NSW the great state it is. They want to continue to be able to participate in the society and the economy. This means they want politicians to tell them what they’ll do so they can continue to participate in paid employment, and to have access to appropriate housing in well-planned communities. They want to know how politicians envisage a transport system that will meet the needs of all voters, and a health system that recognises the needs of people at every life stage.”

“Politicians need to appreciate that an ability to recognise the priorities of older voters is a sign of basic political understanding. If you can’t understand 43% of the NSW electorate, whose interests are you serving?”

“Older voters want substance. They want to be presented with long-range plans that set out a vision for an age-inclusive society, where older people are able to continue to participate in every aspect of life.”

“They also want to see Ageing Strategies that indicate political parties have a clear sense of how they would undertake co-ordinated, whole-of-government action to ensure such a society is achieved. Sadly, we’ve seen nothing like this from either major party in the run up to Saturday’s election.”

Letter to the Editor in The Northern Star, 13 March 2015:

Mention dementia

A number of candidates standing at the forthcoming state election have mentioned mental health services and cancer treatment as issues important to their electorates, but I have yet to hear any express an opinion on the subject of dementia.

According to Alzheimer's Australia: "Dementia is the third leading cause of death in Australia".

Dementia prevalence projections by NSW electorates on the Far North Coast expects the number of people suffering from this devastating disease to rise by 2020 to 6,903 [nsw.fightdementia.org.au, August 2014].

Broken down by electorate this comes to Ballina 1623, Clarence 1697, Lismore 1565 and Tweed 2018.

The prevalence projection for the number of people with dementia within North Coast Area Health Service boundaries in 25 year's time is 27,661.

It's time all state election candidates in NSW North Coast electorates considered the social and economic implications of these figures and inform today's voters how they will begin the task of attracting federal and state government funding for increased health and support services in the region.

Because some of today's voters may find themselves in families affected by this devastating disease tomorrow.

Judith M. Melville

Yamba

Norma’s Project: A Research Study into the Sexual Assault of Older Women in Australia

Excerpts from Norma's Project:  A Research Study into the Sexual Assault of Older Women in Australia, June 2014 (Authors Rosemary Mann, Philomena Horsley, Catherine Barrett, Jean Tinney):

The idea of older women as victims of sexual assault is relatively recent and little understood. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that, despite the silence that surrounds the topic, such assaults occur in many settings and circumstances. The lack of community awareness can be partly attributed to commonly held assumptions that older women are asexual. How, then, can they be the target of sexual assault? What is unimaginable and unacceptable becomes unsayable or invisible.

* In Australia in 2011, there were 3.08 million people aged 65 years and over. There are higher proportions of older women than men over 65 years, with significantly more females than males aged 80 years and over (ABS 2012).

The overwhelming majority of older people live in private dwellings in the community – only 6% live in non-private dwellings, which include aged care homes and hospitals. Among those aged 85 years and over, 74% live in private dwellings (AIHW 2007).

Over 50% of women aged 65 years and over need some form of assistance to help them stay at home.

Among those receiving assistance, 83% received help from informal providers (including family and friends), and 64% received help from formal

providers (including government organisations as well as private for-profit and private not-for-profit agencies) (AIHW 2007).

Around two-thirds of permanent residents in aged care facilities are women (AIHW 2007).

* However, it is widely accepted that around one in five women (17% – 21%) over the age of 18 years have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15 (ABS

2013, 2006; de Visser et al. 2003, 2007). This rate has not changed over the past six years (ABS 2013).

In 2012, an estimated one percent (87,000) of adult women had experienced some form of sexual assault in the previous 12 months, excluding unwanted sexual touching (ABS 2013).

Women over the age of 45 years represented nearly 1 in 5 of this group (ABS 2006).

In the vast majority of cases (88%), the perpetrator was known to the victim (ABS 2013).

* All Government-subsidised aged care homes must report to the police and to the Department of Health and Ageing within 24 hours of receiving an allegation or suspicion of 'unlawful sexual contact' or 'unreasonable use of force'. In the last 12 months there has been a 14% increase in reports of alleged physical and sexual assaults: 349 reports of unlawful sexual contact and 29 reports of unlawful sexual contact and 'unreasonable force' (Commonwealth of Australia 2013). In both Australia and New Zealand, surveys of aged care managers have identified cases of sexual assault of residents (Sadler 2009; Weatherall 2001).

* The available research in relation to the sexual assault of older women suggests that:

offenders are primarily men, although women should not be excluded as potential offenders, particularly in residential aged care settings (Ramsey-Klawsnik et al. 2008; Holt 1993)

male offenders range in age from teenage males to elderly men (Jeary 2005)

a significant minority of convicted male offenders also have previous convictions for assaults against children and younger women (Lea et al. 2010; Del Bove et al. 2005).

* Research on the impacts on older women of recent experiences of sexual assault (or other forms of violence) as an older woman is far more limited. Some researchers characterise service providers' 'lack of sensitivity … to the gravity of the assaults' as striking (Burgess et al. 2000, p.14), while other researchers attest to the 'long-term, life-changing effects' on elderly victims despite efforts to put the trauma behind them (Jeary 2005, p.335)

* Medical literature indicates that older women who experience sexual assault are more prone to trauma and injury to the genital tract, compared to younger women (Muram et al. 1992; Ramin 1997; Jones et al. 2009; Templeton 2005; Morgan et al. 2011) and more likely to be admitted to hospital (Eckhert and Sugar 2008).

Importantly, experiences of sexual assault can also result in a decrease in both the quality and the length of older women's lives. For instance, one case analysis of 20 older people who were sexually assaulted, most of whom were over 70, indicated that over ½ died within a year of the assault (Burgess et al. 2000).

The full report can be read here.

Some 2014 media reports of sexual and/or physical assaults on older women

The Daily Telegraph 30 January 2014:

AN elderly woman has been sexually assaulted after answering a knock on her door of her unit on the NSW far north coast.

Police said about 8pm (AEDT) on Wednesday the 75-year-old opened the door of her Kingscliff unit to a man who forced his way in and sexually assaulted her before fleeing.

treatment.

The Sydney Morning Herald 13 April 2014:

A registered nurse faces prosecution by health authorities after he allegedly sexually assaulted an 89-year-old patient inside a Sydney public hospital.

The man will appear before a Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) tribunal after an elderly lady complained he entered her bed space, woke her up and inappropriately touched her in the Emergency Short Stay Ward at Nepean Hospital, in July 2012.

It is understood the HCCC will also analyse the role of senior staff who several months previously, chose to handle internally - and dismiss - a carbon copy complaint from another elderly woman relating to the same nurse.

NSW Police confirmed that three days after the second alleged incident took place, Nepean Hospital alerted them to ''an allegation of sexual assault''.

On Friday, the patient's two daughters confirmed a decision was made not to press charges because it would have been too traumatic for their mother, who has since passed away in February.

Nswcourts.com.au 12 May 2014:

A 57-year-old former Blue Mountains nursing home worker has been charged with six counts of indecent assault in nursing homes. He was fired after the facility management received complaints from seven elderly women between 2011 and 2014.

The Daily Telegraph reported that seven elderly women had complained about the man for offences that allegedly took place between 2011 and 2014.

He was given strict bail conditions and ordered to appear before Katoomba local court.

Within a month of the Blue Mountains worker being charged, a Wollongong man was jailed for sexually abusing a vulnerable and disabled patient at a nursing home. The woman was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and a stroke, which left her speechless and with very limited movement, requiring 24 hour care.

The Courier Mail 13 May 2014:

A COMMUNITY in Mackay is reeling after the callous sexual assault of an elderly woman on her property.

The Courier-Mail understands the 80-year-old lady – who lives alone – was attacked after she had been walking her dog.

A source close to the victim said her friend had just been for a walk to the local shops before the incident occurred.

Reports suggest a man approached her in the front yard of her Finch St property about 7pm and asked for directions to Lamberts Beach.

Police said he then forced the woman into the backyard where the sexual assault took place.

The assailant then fled the scene on foot.

The Sydney Morning Herald 7 July 2014:

A 46-year-old nurse will appear in court on Tuesday in relation to the deaths of two elderly women and an assault on a third at a Ballina nursing home.

Victorian police arrested the woman in Seaspray, Victoria, 240 kilometres south-east of Melbourne, about 11am on Monday, with warrants issued last week by the NSW Police Force’s Homicide Squad.

The woman had been employed as a nurse at the St Andrew's Village nursing home in Ballina.

UPDATE

The Daily Telegraph 9 June 2014:

A registered nurse accused of killing two elderly patients and assaulting another was investigated for similar offences in 2008.

Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott suffers a bout of dangerous stupidity

This was Opposition Leader Tony Abbott during the 11 August 2013 televised and transcribed Leaders Debate:

Well, I accept that it was quite a detailed set of changes and it was largely based on a report by the Productivity Commission. I thought that the Productivity Commission report was a good report, as did my Shadow Minister, Senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. On this issue there isn't an enormous difference between the Coalition and the Government but we do need to try to ensure that the providers, that the nurses, that the other workers in these aged care centres who do such a terrific job, such a terrific job, and are so helpful to very vulnerable Australians, don't have to spend as much time on paperwork as they currently do under a paper-based accountability system. [my red bolding]

Perhaps Mr. Abbott might like to explain what paperwork he would eliminate?

Would it be daily observation charts, case notes, individual treatment plans, outcomes of multidisciplinary case management conferences, filling in accident/incident registers, or more simple tasks like placing patients/residents on lists for podiatry treatment and filling in weekly menus for those who can no longer do such tasks for themselves etc?

Or would it be paperwork proving staffing levels, that all staff were suitably qualified for the positions they hold and that emergency medical equipment is tested/serviced regularly?

A paper based accountability system is there for a reason – to protect the wellbeing and rights of older Australians living their final years in nursing home care.

Tony Abbott’s slick promise to cut-the-red-tape, which he frequently throws into press conferences on all manner of subjects, is dangerously stupid.

Growing old in the Lucky Country

ABC News 3rd October 2012

Who's afraid to say lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex?

The following media release from the Hon. Mark Butler MP meant nothing at first until I decoded his slavish adherence to a little known acronym. One could be forgiven for suspecting that the Minister for Mental Health and Aging, as well as Social Inclusion, was uncomfortable with the use of plain English.

Apart from that – well done, Minister.

MEDIA RELEASE

24 July 2012

The Gillard Government will develop a National LGBTI Aged Care Strategy to support the implementation of Living Longer Living Better.

Minister for Ageing Mark Butler said he had acted on the advice of the Productivity Commission as well as groups like the ACON Health Ltd, the National LGBTI Health Alliance and the GLBTI Retirement Association.

“We are predicting a large increase in the demand for aged care by this group,” Mr Butler said.

“And there is a broad community consensus that it is important to recognise people who are LGBTI in the same way as we recognise the needs of other diverse groups such as people from culturally and linguistically diverse communities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

“Ultimately it’s about recognising difference and ensuring equality.

“We will work with the National LGBTI Health Alliance to develop a comprehensive strategy to make sure the needs of LGBTI Australians are addressed in the implementation of our $3.7 billion aged care reform package,” Mr Butler said.

Mr Butler said the strategy builds on the support already announced Living Longer Living Better package already provides support for LGBTI Australians.

“In April, I announced $2.5 million to support staff training that is sensitive to the specific needs of these older Australians,” Mr Butler said.

“This funding supports aged care providers to work with their staff to continually improve how they respond to the diverse and complex needs of the older Australians they support.

“The National LGBTI Aged Care Strategy will provide direction for providers and better articulate and coordinate our aims.

For all media enquiries, please contact the minister’s office on (02) 6277 7280

Australian Government now has full responsibility for Home and Community Care (HACC) services

Department of Health and Ageing media release 1 July 2012:

From 1 July 2012 the Australian Government has full responsibility for Home and Community Care (HACC) services that support more than 500,000 older Australians to live independently in their own homes and communities.

Minister for Ageing, Mark Butler said the transfer of responsibility for HACC services for older people to the Australian Government rationalises the system and paves the way for the reforms outlined in Living Longer Living Better.

“Supporting older Australians to remain living in their own home is a key focus of our recently unveiled Living Longer Living Better aged care reform package.”

“We’re investing an extra $880 million over the next 5 years for 40,000 new home care packages to help older people stay living at home,” Mr Butler said.

“The HACC Program provides a foundation for future aged care reforms and is one of the first steps in the development of a consistent aged care system covering basic care at home through to high-level care in aged care facilities.”

The Commonwealth HACC program replaces the former joint Australian Government and state government-funded HACC program in all states and territories except Victoria and Western Australia, where basic community care services will continue to be delivered under the old arrangements.

State and territory governments will continue to fund HACC services for people under 65 (or under 50 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people).

HACC consumers will continue to receive services from their current provider and remain in the most appropriate care setting regardless of their age.

The Australian Government has allocated more than $1 billion for the Commonwealth HACC program and will continue to support the joint HACC program in Victoria and Western Australia.

More information on the Commonwealth HACC program is available at: www.health.gov.au/hacc

Gawd 'elp us all if we grow old, frail and alone in the Land Downunder

This is part of the Gillard Government response to Australia's aged care needs:

"To make it easier for older Australians to stay in their home while they receive care, we will:
Increase the number of Home Care Packages- from 59,876 to almost 100,000 (99,669).

Provide tailored care packages to people receiving home care, and new funding for dementia care.

Cap costs, so that full pensioners pay no more than the basic fee." and

“care recipients with higher than average care needs, an indexed annual cap of $5,000 for single people on income less than $43,000”
A positive policy move. Except Maud Up The Street tells me you need at least six hours care in the home per week and a family member coming in, or living in, to pick up the rest of the care hours to take the pressure of the lack of available dementia-dedicated nursing home beds on the NSW North Coast.

Not every older person has the luxury of children and grandchildren or of having them live close by if they do. In fact, in some areas around 30% of the 50 years plus population is probably childless if ABS stats are any sort of guide.
The Prime Minister and Health Minister speak a lot about "older Australians and their families" - without recognizing that the norm is changing more than they realise and this welcome move which will allow more people to stay in their home as they receive aged care may accidentally exclude the elderly without families.
Even the announced extra aged care beds may not always materialise in regional areas such as the NSW North Coast, because nursing homes sometimes display a reluctance to take up available residential bed quotas.

Prime Minister and Health Minister Media Release 20^th April 2012

A new national aged care policy is barrelling down the track towards Australia's baby boomers

The Gillard Government is assuring Australia’s baby boomers that the concerns bolded in red below will not occur:

Under this market price option, accommodation costs to high care recipients and taxpayers (the accommodation subsidy for supported residents) are likely to be higher, but consumer choice and industry sustainability would be enhanced. Care recipients, however, would continue to be charged differently according to the level of assessed care need (high or low care) not the standard of accommodation they have chosen. There is also a concern that, as providers could charge what the market would bear, care recipients could be exploited and those with a lower capacity to pay would miss out. This is a greater concern in the short term, particularly in areas where there is limited competition. [Productivity Commission,June 2011,Caring for Older Australians,Vol Two]

If you live in rural and regional areas perhaps it is time to carefully read the report and make up your own mind on what aged care policy should be before federal politicians make up theirs.

Caring for Older Australians - Overview (PDF - 1065 Kb)

Volume 1 - Caring for Older Australians - Inquiry report (PDF - 1558 Kb)

Volume 2 - Caring for Older Australians - Inquiry report (PDF - 3134 Kb)

If Baby Boomers were worried aged care might be stuffed by the time they turned 75 - worry no more

Read and enjoy current aged care recommendations in the Caring For Older Australians: Draft report presented to the Gillard Government by the Productivity Commission and released on 21 January 2011.

Less direct accountability for government, less transparency if that is actually possible, a freer hand for aged care providers (including the ability to palm-off aged care bed categories with low profit margins) and the potential for all manner of agencies to increase costs on a whole range of services (including removing the cap on high care accommodation charges), ‘supported’ beds for low-income frail aged eventually assigned to the lowest tenders, a more market-driven provision of aged care services for special needs groups, and as an added bonus, the continuing option of being faced with no nursing home bed available in the area in which you live in your retirement – I give you A framework for assessing aged care: draft recommendations.

However, as has been the case down the centuries, if you enter old age with significant assets and investments you will still be able to afford the best on offer and probably do a little better out of those same proposed aged care provisions.

The entire report can be found here.

We have all been invited to examine this report and make written submissions to the Productivity Commission by Monday 21 March 2011.
Email agedcare@pc.gov.au for further information

Good news for the frail aged and carers in the NSW Northern Rivers region

Federal Member for Page Janelle Saffin’s media release on 9 December 2010 brings some good news for older residents in the Northern Rivers region and their families :

Older people in Page will benefit from a total of 80 new aged care places allocated across the electorate by the Australian Government.

Page MP Janelle Saffin said the new places allocated under the Aged Care Approvals Round for 2009-10 include 39 residential care places and 41 community packages for care in the home.

“The new allocations reflect the need for varied types of aged care in our local community.

“While there is a growing demand for residential places, there are also many people who prefer to remain in their own homes.

“The allocations are for 32 high care residential places, 7 low care residential places, and 41 community aged care packages,” Ms Saffin said.

Local providers receiving the new allocations:

Baptist Community Services Northern Rivers: 5 Community Aged Care Packages

Ex-Services Home Ballina; 32 Residential Places High Care

Southern Cross, St Catherine’s Villa, Grafton: 2 Residential Places Low Care

St Michael’s Apartments, Casino 5 Residential Places Low Care

Frank Whiddon Homes Grafton 13 Community Aged Care Packages

Frank Whiddon Homes Kyogle 13 Community Aged Care Packages

Uniting Care Yamba 10 Community Aged Care Packages

The Aged Care Approvals Round for 2009-10 for Page is worth an estimated $2.34 million.

In addition, the Australian Government will provide the aged care sector nationally with $147 million in zero interest loans to build 819 places, along with more than $41.6 million in capital grants.

What NSW Northern Rivers social priorities are in 2010 for local community services

From Northern Rivers Social Priorities 2010 Report:

In early 2010 Northern Rivers Social Development Council (NRSDC) conducted a survey amongst the regions’ community service providers to gauge their views on social priorities. The results from the survey will be used to inform NRSDC in its advocacy role. It will also stand as a resource for other community services to gain an insight into the key social issues faced by the Northern Rivers community and community service system.

Since 2001, initially the Northern Rivers Interagency and now NRSDC have conducted research, consultations and surveys with service providers. The aim has been to identify common social priorities across the region, flag new issues as they arise and monitor the state of those priorities.

Responses from community services of the Northern Rivers to the 2010 Social Priorities survey has revealed that the region’s social priorities, as identified in 2002 and revisited in 2006 remain hot issues in the community.

Data from the survey may be considered in different ways. An indication of what responding services had the strongest feelings about can be found by looking at which issues had the most respondents rating them as 9 out of 9 ie the highest level of concern.

Ranking of the social priorities is as follows on a scale of 1 to 9:

1. Youth 7.72
   
2. Complex needs 7.64
   
3. Transport 7.58
   
4. Housing 7.08
   
5. Ageing 6.92
   
6. Community based management 6.52

Not impressed with Abbott's aged care promises

The policy has also come under fire from the Australian Medical Association (AMA).
AMA president Dr Andrew Pesce says while incentives to provide more aged care beds are a welcome move, they should not come at the cost of GP services.
"Not only is there no new funding for the provision of medical care to older Australians, the Coalition has committed to cut the $98.4 million promised by Labor in the May Budget to provide incentive payments for GPs to provide services in aged care homes," he said in a statement.
"This is a missed opportunity for the Coalition that has been compounded by taking away the only new funding that was available to improve access to medical care for older Australians, at a time of their life when their medical care needs are very high." [ABC News 2 August 2010]

The NSW North Coast is a prime destination for Australian east coast seachangers, treechangers and retirees. Which means that this region is starting to experience what will be an continuous extended aging band in its overall population demographics.

So it is more than a little disappointing that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is placing aging issues at the back of the funding queue once again:

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has warned the coalition's aged care policy will be limited by how much money is left in government coffers.....
"I want to caution people against expecting enormous dollars," Mr Abbott told reporters in Adelaide.

This disappointment is somewhat personal for North Coast Voices as most of our regular contributors are over sixty years of age and, quite frankly, in regional and rural areas the glue which often holds communities together is the commitment of now aging volunteers and community stalwarts.

Abbott's plan to bribe nursing home operators to use all their current bed allocations does not engender confidence and, in the face of a longstanding regional aged care services shortfall, promising $14 million for nursing home 'pets as therapy' is an ill-conceived pledge.

While his plan to shuffle older patients in stressed public hospitals to post-hospital care in stressed nursing homes is rendered risible by the fact that in regional areas any empty nursing home bed is a rare commodity.

His announced $935 million aged care package has no roll-out details and, is pitifully inadequate when the Aged Care Association is warning that Australia will need on average $2.5 billion each year for the next twenty years just to keep up with demand.

Given Abbott's stated intention to roll back the Labor Government's new mining tax while still reducing company tax and the fact that he is tossing around what seem to be unfunded promises in so many ministerial portfolios, this aged care election promise of 1 August 2009 does not appear to be achievable - until one realises that he intends to simply take money from other areas of the overstretched public heath system to fund this particular election 'sweetener'.

Streuth Ruth! Abbott's a cobber of the elderly and Rudd's a granny basher?

You've gotta love the boy. Here he is gamely battling for that extra spin by having a go at Rudders and Swanee over the latest Intergenerational Report released yesterday.
Apparently the PM and Treasurer are guilty of elder bashing by pointing out that growing numbers entering retirement are posing a bit of a problem for a national economy which was traditionally coming off on a strong base of taxpaying workers.
Leader of the Coalition Opposition Tony Abbott hopes that I'll accept that he's my true blue friend, working flat out protecting me from Labor's nasty age discrimination.
"It's not seniors' fault that the government is under cost pressure. This idea somehow seniors are to blame for our economic problems, it is wrong, it is demeaning to great people who have worked hard for our country."sez our Tones.

Here's how Labor's 2010 intergenerational report basically assesses the aging of the population;
"Australia faces significant intergenerational challenges.
Population ageing will mean that there will be fewer workers to support retirees and young dependants.
This will place pressure on the economic growth that drives rising living standards.
At the same time, the ageing population will result in substantial fiscal pressures from increased demand for government services and rising health costs.
Australia's population will continue to grow over time but at slower rates
than in the past. A growing population will help manage pressures of the ageing population but will put pressure on our infrastructure, services and environment. This will require continued planning and investment ahead of time."

Here's how the Coalition's 2007 intergenerational report viewed the same issue;
Demographic and other factors will continue to pose substantial challenges for economic growth and long-term fiscal sustainability.
The projections in IGR2 show that over the next 40 years:

• the population will continue to increase in size but with a higher proportion of older people;
• economic growth per person will slow as the proportion of the population of traditional working age falls; and
• substantial fiscal pressures will emerge due to projected increases in spending, particularly in the areas of health, age pensions and aged care."

And before that in 2003 the Libs and Nats looked at that same ageing population in the first intergenerational report;
Australia, like most industrialised countries, is experiencing an ageing of its population. This is already beginning to place some pressure on government spending. However, much larger pressures are expected to emerge when the 'baby-boomer' generation starts reaching old age in the middle of the next decade.
By careful planning now, we will be better prepared to meet the future challenges of an ageing population.

Can't tell the chooks apart can you! Because the long term demographic shift exists and it will affect the economy.
Tony Abbott is showing what a bl**dy nong he really is in trying to run with this thought bubble for the next 24 hours and this particular greybeard would like to take his 'caring' and shove it down his dishonest pollie throat.

Minister for Aging Justine Elliot shines a welcome light on aged care facilities

The Federal Minister for Aging and MP for the NSW North Coast Richmond electorate, Justine Elliot, promised last year to name and shame those aged care providers who were not meeting standards set for residential aged care.

Since then there has been a steady trickle of media reports on nursing homes which were found to be sub-standard in some manner. However, it is the Dept. of Health and Aging which has published the official non-compliance lists.

List by state and current as of 4 January 2010 (details of notices of non-compliance remain on this list until such time as a sanction is imposed on the relevant approved provider or the provider has addressed the non-compliances):

Australian Capital Territory

New South Wales

Northern Territory

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

Archived Notices of Non-Compliance list aged care services, by state and in alphabetical order, which have remedied the problems within their facilities.

Although the low number of currently non-complaint facilities and the growing list of those which have fixed sub-standard practices is reassuring, it is of some concern to note that issues of reportable assaults and patient malnurition feature in details concerning some of these nursing homes.

I am sure that there would be many in the aged care industry who would not agree with the Minister's course of action.

Just as I am equally sure that families who have a member in aged care would be reassured that residential facilities are being regularly monitored for compliance -especially families faced with the limited choice rural and regional Australia has to offer.

Keep up the good work, Ms. Elliot.

** Aged Care Providers' Financial Data for 2006-2008 here. This is de-indentified data broken down by generic categories city and regional.

Photograph from Google Images