LEG ROTTED TO BONE, IN A POOL OF FLUID

HAIRSTYLIST Alana Hewett said her grandmother, who lived at an upmarket aged-care home, died a painful death in a pool of her own bodily fluids after sepsis rotted her leg to the bone.

Gruesome photographs of grandmother Norma Palmer revealed a bleeding wound on her leg exposing her ankle bone and the skin on her back was red raw.

Mrs Palmer was rushed to hospital in July 2020 and died three days later. Coroner Don Buchanan found it was a health care-related death reportable under the Coroner’s Act and he called for the aged-care facility to conduct a clinical review of its practices, along with the general practitioner who was overseeing Mrs Palmer’s wound treatment.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission said the agedcare home acknowledged it did not consistently provide a satisfactory level of care to Mrs Palmer and a preliminary internal investigation found “significant gaps” in pain management and wound care.

Ms Hewett said the 148 wideranging royal commission recommendations, including establishing an aged-care pricing authority and a federal Department of Health and Aged Care, would go part of the way to reforming the system.

“We paid extra for physiotherapy and for healthy meals, which cost an additional $12.50 a day, but we were never really sure if, or when, she received them,” she said.

“A federal Department of Health and Aged Care will give families a point of contact if problems arise.

“But the reforms should also include keeping these facilities accountable all the time, which entails regular audits and reports that remain public and on the record for all to see.”

The aged-care home has since established a continuous improvement plan to address those flaws, all now rectified, and the facility found compliant in December 2020.