Disturbing aged-care horror stories of callous neglect being revealed

AGED-CARE residents in Townsville have been found by family members caked in faeces, screaming in agony wishing for death and neglected by facility staff, a Royal Commission has heard.

Heartbroken relatives of current and former Townsville aged-care residents revealed horrific cases of neglect during a Royal Commission into Aged Care forum yesterday.

One woman, who asked not to be named, told the Commission she fought tooth and nail for her mother’s aged care facility to do better but instead found the elderly woman sometimes caked in faeces, wearing soiled diapers or left in bed until the afternoon.

The woman said she had once asked staff multiple times to give her mother stronger medication when she complained of back pain, but was ignored.

She then found her mother lying in the middle across the bed, legs dangling, screaming in pain and saying she wanted to die. After being rushed to the hospital, doctors found she had a broken back.

Retired registered nurse Anne Rinkin, who worked at nursing homes during her career, has been on both sides of the fence.

Ms Rinkin, 74, receives home care and feels she has lost her dignity.

“I find that there is a lack of respect, a lack of care, a lot of the carers are told get in, get out, don’t talk,” she said.

“I keep getting (different) carers all the time.”

One speaker told the Commission she believed her father’s death in an aged care facility in 2017 was premature, and after battling bureaucracy to ensure the facility was investigated, found out a year later an audit had deemed its standards inadequate again.