Department gets tough on unregistered care home accused of abuse and neglect

THE provincial Social Development department has announced a plan of action, complete with “strict deadlines”, following allegations of elder abuse and neglect at an unregistered Cape Town old age home.

Aimed at improving care at Serendipity Home for the Aged in Panorama, the plan was announced yesterday by Social Development Minister Albert Fritz.

The home made news last year with reports that residents suffered from bedsores and scabies, that wounds were left untreated, and that medication was used to “keep them quiet”.

The department then tasked NGO Action on Elder Abuse South Africa to conduct an investigation into conditions at the facility. Fritz said yesterday the investigation had found the facility – which charges R5 200 a month for assisted care – did not comply with legislation such as the Older Persons Act of 2006.

“No proper medication administration took place, nor did a trained medical practitioner administer medicine,” he said.

“(It does) not have appropriate staffing to cope with the health needs of residents. There is no registered professional nurse appointed, and home- based carers are performing duties which form part of the nurse’s scope of practice.”

The investigation also found that the old age home’s building was not safe, meals did not comply with legislated nutri- tional guidelines, and the facility did not provide evidencebased care to older people.

This lack of adequate health care meant some residents were admitted to hospitals in a severely neglected state, the investigation found.

Fritz said his department had given the home’s owners a plan of action with which they must comply.

One of the first steps was to appoint a registered nurse by Monday.

The home’s owner, Sharon Roberts, said yesterday that she was “busy responding to the allegations of irregularities in the department’s report”, and declined to comment further.

Fritz said his department was in the process of contacting the relatives of 15 frail older people to have them placed at registered facilities by mid-March.

His department had also instructed Action on Elder Abuse to lodge a criminal complaint based on the one case of neglect of which the NGO had found evidence.

Longer-term improvements required by the department included proving that all medication was correctly administered, serving better food, using evidence-based care for the aged, and complying with fire and safety legislation.

Fritz said Serendipity was not the only unregistered old age home in Panorama, a suburb between Monte Vista and Plattekloof.

“During the course of the investigation other unregistered facilities... were exposed, and the department will be looking into these unregistered facilities too,” he said.