Aged care abuse law to protect our seniors

NEW fines for cover-ups of aged care abuse are set to hit nursing homes this year after thousands of elderly Australians were bashed or sexually assaulted in 2020.

Shocking new government data reveals 103 “reportable assaults’’ every week, with 4034 cases of physical and sexual abuse notified to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) between January and September last year.

Now the aged care watchdog is on the verge of being granted tough new powers to punish aged care providers for failing to keep frail residents safe, through a new Serious Incident Response Scheme (SIRS).

Aged care managers or staff who bully whistle blowers could be fined up to $111,000

— and forced to pay them compensation for “victimisation’’.

N u r s i n g homes would have to report all cases — and even suspicions

— of care workers yelling, name-calling, stealing from residents or failing to help them out.

ACQSC commissioner Janet Anderson (pictured) said there had been 4867 reports of alleged unreasonable use of force and 816 allegations of unlawful sexual contact against nursing home residents in 2019-20.

The tough new laws, to be debated when federal parliament resumes next month, would widen the definition of a “serious incident’’ that must be reported to the ACQSC from April 1.

Currently, aged care homes only need to report “unlawful sexual contact” and “unreasonable use of force’’.