Agedcare nightmare

Violence on rise in homes

MORE than 100 elderly Australians are the victims of assaults in aged care homes everyweek—and the true toll is believed to be far higher.

It can be revealed there were 5718 assault s reported in residential aged care facilities in 2019-20, a massive 42 per cent increase in just two years.

Of those, 4867 related to unreasonable use of force on residents, ranging from unwarranted physical force to deliberate and violent attacks. Another 816 incidents involved unlawful sexual contact, up from 513 two years ago.

The startling data, released this week by the federal government, also reveals that residents went missing from aged care homes on 1301 occasions over the last financial year.

Police were called during each of those incidents when elderly residents were absent without an explanation.

The government report said that with 244,363 people in permanent residential care last year, the incidence of reported assaults was 2.3 percent.

But the aged care royal commission heard last month that the actual rate was likely far higher. Peter Rozen QC, senior counsel assisting the commission, said government figures “understate the real extent of the problem” because some facilities did not report “mere rough handling of residents ”.

Assaults are also not reportable if the alleged perpetrator is a resident with a diagnosed mental impairment and the home put sin place arrangements to manage their behaviour.

“Considering that approximately 50 per cent of people receiving residential aged care have a diagnosis of dementia, the effect of this exemption is likely to be significant,” he said.

Mr Rozen said KPMG research for the federal government suggested the number of alleged assaults was actually as high as 44,131 incidents in 12 months.