Swooping on aged care
GOVERNMENT i nspectors will make surprise checks on nursing homes to spot abuse, using new powers which come into force today.
The dates of accreditation checks will now be kept secret from aged care homes management which previously knew precisely when auditors would visit and had time to spruce up before inspections.
Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt yesterday said nursing homes would no longer have time to cover up problems before a visit.
“When you have announced visits, people prepare in advance,’’ he said.
“They won’t be able to do that now. We want aged care providers to provide quality care regardless of a visit, 365 days of the year.’’
Queensland Health Minister Stephen Miles wants the Federal Government to mandate safe nurse- to- resident ratios, as some homes have no nurses at night or expect one nurse to care for 200 residents.
Mr Wyatt said nursing homes “do need a nurse,’’ but ruled out staffing ratios to dictate the number of nurses and carers in each home.
“You do need that physical supervision, you do need a nurse,’’ he said.
“I’m tending not to support a ratio … these are decisions we leave with the provider. It is more about quality of staff and their ability to look after people with diligence and compassion.’’
Mr Wyatt said he was considering calls to give hotelstyle “star ratings’’ to nursing homes to help families assess the quality of care.
He said he would also consider making homes publish the results of audits or sanctions on their websites.
But he urged the public to check audit reports on the Aged Care Quality Agency website before choosing a home.
“If I was putting my mother or father into an aged care facility, I would be asking, ‘ Do you have any sanctions imposed? How many times have you had unannounced visits?’ ” Mr Wyatt said.
Mr Wyatt urged families or aged care staff concerned about poor care to call the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner.
He said the commissioner’s office would be merged with the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency, which sends inspectors to audit nursing homes, with a 44- point quality standards list.
It has been has revealed one in seven Queensland nursing homes flunked inspections in the past year, with audits exposing violence, malnutrition and neglect of residents.
One Brisbane nursing home served food with maggots and let an elderly woman go unshowered for weeks.
In another home, a grandmother was left with broken bones after a fellow resident attacked her for “speaking loudly.’’
The Aged Care Quality Agency, police and Queensland Health Ombudsman are investigating the suspicious deaths of five residents at the Baptist- run Carinity Fairfield Grange home, following allegations a nurse gave a lethal dose of drugs to resident Charlotte Paluszak.