Tough talk needed over how we care for elderly

WE live on the Gold Coast, the last playground for retirees. This city is among God’s largest waiting rooms.

The evacuation of Earle Haven nursing home is a lightswitch moment for us.

This is our chance to find a solution to improving the growing number of “waiting rooms” – before someone suffers unnecessary harm or dies before their time.

We were warned. Late last year, in the Queensland Parliament, Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon referred to a statewide audit of nursing homes. The Nurses Union audit found the federal seat of Moncrieff, which includes Nerang where the Earle Haven facility is located, was the worst with facilities in the electorate averaging only 1.69 hours of care per resident each day.

On Facebook and during doorknocking, there were similar messages from residents: let me take my own life before putting me into one of those places.

Last Thursday night, 70 frail, elderly people were evacuated from Earle Haven, with their loved ones not contacted for hours.

Medications were only

organised days later. Medical records were still to be found. A family was told to gather to say goodbye to an 83-year-old evacuee placed in critical care.

After his recovery, the man’s daughter told Attwood Marshall Lawyers: “It was a huge roller coaster where I’ve gone from thinking ‘I’ve nearly lost him’ to going into ‘fix it’ mode.”

It emerges that authorities made recent sanctions against the home. Clearly, the system of policing under the Commonwealth’s watch is not working fast enough.

Pause for a moment. It is critical to understand political parties will be reluctant to preempt reforms before the Royal Commission into Aged Care makes its findings.

The outcome here in the short term? The Commonwealth’s Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission will publish more sanctions but the public detail will be minimal.

Some key questions. How does the duty of care work, who can get compensation, what happens with finances? What is the security for families in the longer term?

Attwood Marshall director Jeff Garrett says a nondelegable duty of care to the highest possible standard was owed to nursing home residents by the Earle Haven business entity PeopleCare and the provider, HelpStreet.

“One would have thought that PeopleCare must have been aware of the issues with HelpStreet, particularly when the facilities were sanctioned on Thursday, July 11,” he said.

Clients who became seriously ill during the evacuation can seek damages, as can their families for the stress. Criminal action is possible for neglect.

If money is owed from monthly payments, it needs a complaint to police. Ask stakeholders, and it is less clear how to protect bonds – ranging from $300,000 to $500,000 – in the longer term.

Ms Scanlon said: “Some aged care providers are making big profits, some subsidised by taxpayers, but they are not delivering the services we expect.”

To save profits, some were dumping residents in need of care at Gold Coast emergency departments, she said.

A much tougher conversation is needed here about health policy. Can we trust the private sector to deliver for our aged, or much like the hospital system, does the public take a bigger role?