The Combined Pensioners & Superannuants Association of NSW has put the spotlight on a Federal Government report into nursing home performance that it believes was deliberately released to avoid media attention.
“Nursing homes are performing so badly that the Government has taken to releasing the annual industry performance report without even a departmental media release, let alone a ministerial media release, so CPSA is happy to lend a hand by releasing it for the Government and to point out some of the interesting bits at the same time”, said Paul Versteege, Senior Advisor Research & Advocacy.
“The Australian Government’s Aged Care Complaints Scheme received 3,725 complaints over the year, mostly regarding health care, consultation and communication, safety, staffing and medication management. Nine out of ten complaints were about nursing homes.
“In reality though, the Australian Government’s Aged Care Complaints Scheme received almost 11,000 complaints, but the vast majority disappeared following sleight of bureaucracy:
- This year, there were 2,625 notifications of physical and sexual assault of nursing home residents, up 11.5 per cent from last year. This number excludes assaults by other residents on residents, which are not recorded or reported and can be assumed to be frequent. The Government’s report seems to imply that residents having a 1.1 per cent chance of being assaulted by someone other than another resident is pretty good going. This reportable assault statistic for nursing homes is frightening and unacceptably high.
- There were 1,127 reports of missing residents in 2014/15, up 3.4 per cent from last year.
- Complaints seldom result in compliance action being taken. Last year, only 3.3 per cent of complaints resulted in compliance action taken against nursing homes. This year the Government’s report does not even offer a statistic. Assume that even less compliance action against nursing homes has been taken this year.
“CPSA calls on the Australian Government and the Minister for Aged Care to stop the trend of providing cover for the nursing home industry.”
The full report can be found here: https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/