In
2018 the Morrison Government established the Royal Commission
into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
The
Royal Commission's Final
Report was delivered to the Federal on 1 March
2021. The Summary
contained in Volume 1 of the report stated in part;
Over
the course of 2019, we heard from many people about substandard
care—those who experienced it, family members or loved ones who
witnessed it or heard about it, aged care workers, service providers,
peak bodies, advocates and experts. We heard about substandard
care during hearings and community forums. We also were informed
about it in public submissions. Substandard care and abuse pervades
the Australian aged care system.
The
accounts of substandard care were always sad and confronting. They
were no doubt difficult to tell, and very difficult to hear and read.
We acknowledge the courage people have shown in sharing their
experiences with us. Their contributions have been essential to our
inquiry and we are grateful.....
The
abuse of older people in residential care is far from uncommon. In
2019–20, residential aged care services reported 5718 allegations
of assault under the mandatory reporting requirements of the Aged
Care Act. A study conducted by consultancy firm KPMG for the
Australian Department of Health estimated that, in the same year, a
further 27,000 to 39,000 alleged assaults occurred that were exempt
from mandatory reporting because they were resident-on-resident
incidents. In our inquiry, we heard of physical and sexual abuse that
occurred at the hands of staff members, and of situations in which
residential aged
care providers did not protect residents from abuse by other
residents. This is a disgrace and should be a source of national
shame. Older people receiving aged care should be safe and free from
abuse at all times......
Commissioner
Briggs attached 148 specific
recommendations to her final report and it is unclear exactly how
many have been acted on to date, apart from the initial response found
in the Aged
Care and other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission
Response) Act 2021 and the subsequent Albanese Government's Aged
Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response) Bill
2022.
So
it should come probably come as no surprise that disturbing media reports were still
surfacing in 2023.
May
2023 - a NSW police officer deliberately tasered a 92 year-old
woman on a walking frame at the nursing home of which she was a
resident. She died of her injuries.
July
2023 - an 89 year-old woman was allegedly bashed to death inside
a Sydney nursing home room by a fellow dementia patient with his
walking frame. She died of her injuries.
Nov
2023 - A woman in her 90s died in hospital after allegedly being
sexually assaulted by an intruder in a nursing home on the New South
Wales Central Coast.
Dec
2023 - A woman in her 70s was sexually assaulted in her room at
an aged care facility on NSW north coast.
By
13 February 2024 The
Guardian was reporting:
More
than 1,000 cases of neglect are being reported in residential aged
care homes each month, prompting a warning from the sector’s
regulator.
The
Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) has flagged “a
concerning spike” in neglect cases over the past 12 months and
raised concerns about inadequate care standards.
So
it was a relief when on 3 April 2024 the Albanese Government
announced in a media
release that it will:
Introduce
a new duty of care, owed by providers, to recipients of aged care
services, including a compensation regime when the duty is breached.
This will create a path for class actions against dodgy providers.
Give
stronger investigative powers to the Aged Care Quality and Safety
Commission, including powers to enter and remain in an aged care
facility at any time to ensure the safety of residents, as well as
full access to documents and records.
Introduce
measures to ensure the 215 minutes of care and nursing that Labor
has pledged per resident per day is actually spent on care and
clinical support - not on marketing, administration, maintenance or
other activities that are not direct care.
Require
providers to publicly report on the expenditure of residents’ and
taxpayers’ money – including a breakdown of money spent on
caring, nursing, food, maintenance, cleaning, administration, and
profits....
These
measures implement and build on the Royal Commission recommendation
to establish a General Duty of Care for aged care – which will set
minimum standards to protect residents and workers....
However,
it seems that the
Albanese Government's plans to reform the dysfunctional aged care
system have met with political headwinds.....
The
Saturday Paper,
13 July 2024, "Criminal
penalties proposed for aged care bosses",
excerpt:
The
Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS) – instigated after the
royal commission to track and reduce the frequency of major
incidents, including unreasonable use of force, neglect,
psychological and emotional abuse, unlawful or inappropriate sexual
conduct, stealing or financial coercion, inappropriate use of
restrictive practices and unexpected death – came into force in
April 2021 in residential settings. In December 2022 it was added for
home care. This scheme, which asks providers to self-report serious
incidents, has shown concerning levels of delusion and dishonesty
among providers.
In
the most recent SIRS figures, providers self-assessed that of the
2257 incidents of unlawful or inappropriate sexual contact in
Australian nursing homes from April 2022 to March 2023, 95 per cent
of residents affected had experienced no or only minor psychological
impacts. Put another way, providers reported that only 5 per cent of
aged-care residents who experienced serious and unlawful sexual
contact or conduct have had major psychological impacts afterwards.
In
the same report, providers self-assessed that of the 28,890 incidents
of unreasonable use of force in the same year, 98 per cent of
residents had no or minor psychological impact and 92 per cent had no
or only minor physical impact. In the scheme’s first six months of
operation, 75 per cent of the nation’s home-care providers had not
reported a single serious incident of any kind to the aged-care
regulator.
These
figures reveal a sector that is still fundamentally in denial about
its own performance and the effects of abuse and neglect on older
Australians in its care.
Now,
as the federal government attempts to muster bipartisan support for
its new act, the aged-care lobby is circling its wagons again, this
time to fiercely oppose the government’s proposed imposition of a
statutory duty of care on aged-care providers and responsible persons
that could result in civil and criminal penalties, including
potential jail time in especially egregious cases.....
Nonetheless,
providers, peak bodies, the Australian Institute for Company
Directors and shadow minister for aged care Anne Ruston have all come
out swinging at the proposed introduction of criminal penalties.
They
claim the penalties will lead to vast increases in insurances for
directors, are unnecessarily punitive and will discourage good people
from working in the aged-care sector. This is a bit like arguing we
shouldn’t have child-abuse laws or require police checks to work
with children as that might stop good people from opening
kindergartens.
The
extraordinary optics of arguing against criminal penalties – even
in cases where there is no reasonable excuse for failures of care
that have led to death or serious injury – seems to be lost on
providers and the federal opposition.
