1 death following 2 outbreaks of gastro in Sydney nursing homes

A Sydney nursing home resident has died following an outbreak of gastroenteritis, which has affected 30 residents and six staff.

Another outbreak has hit residents in a Blue Mountains nursing home which has not yet been named.

“After 11 deaths in a Blue Mountains home, 3 deaths in a South Australian home and 5 deaths in a Melbourne home, clearly the current watchdog system is failing to protect residents.”

“Elderly and frail people are extremely vulnerable to the effects of the gastroenteritis virus. The virus places a huge amount of stress on the body, and makes individuals susceptible to other serious infections, which can lead to death” said CPSA Policy Coordinator Charmaine Crowe.

“The past six months have seen basic standards of care in nutrition and hydration not being met in aged care facilities across the country.”

CPSA is concerned that monitoring of standards in nursing homes is inadequate.

The Report on the Operation of the Aged Care Act 1997 for the last financial year was welcomed by Minister for Ageing Justine Elliot who stated that the data “…shows the vast majority of homes are providing a world class service, but there is a small group – 46 nursing homes – that had failed to meet 44 accreditation standard outcomes under the Aged Care Act” (Media Release 26 November 2008).

What Minister Elliot failed to acknowledge was that these 46 homes were non-compliant as at 30 June 2008. In reality, 199 homes failed compliance standards in 2007/2008, which was later acknowledged by Minister Elliot after media enquiries.

Even then, 199 homes may be a very conservative figure.

In 2007/2008 the aged care watchdogs issued:

- 214 Notices of Required Action (NRA) over the same amount of time. An NRA is issued where a provider is found to have breached one or more of their responsibilities under the Aged Care Act; plus

- 75 Notices of Non-Compliance

The Department of Ageing’s Complaints Investigation Scheme identified:

- 716 breaches of a home’s responsibilities under the act, which were referred to another agency. The CIS is the first point of call for complaints about aged care, and has the power to investigate homes, and/or refer matters to other bodies.

- The CIS made 33 referrals to the coroner.

CPSA asks:

1) If 214 homes breached their responsibilities under the act, why were there only 199 homes found non-compliant?

2) If 716 breaches identified, and referred, are they logged as an instance of non-compliance? If not, why not?

CPSA is aware of a case where serious complaints were not investigated by the Complaints Investigation Scheme, but referred back to the nursing home to conduct an internal investigation, which failed to substantiate the claims.

“The Complaints Investigation Scheme received over 11,000 complaints last year, yet only 214 Notices of Required Action and 75 Notices of Non-Compliance was issued.”

“A scheme that refers complaints back to facilities in question is completely unacceptable. It is no wonder that homes are failing to meet basic standards of care when the sector’s watchdogs turn a blind eye.”

“CPSA calls on the Minister Elliot to overhaul the Aged Care Complaints Investigation Scheme, and the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency to ensure that proper scrutiny of aged care facilities takes place.”

Media contact: 0410 612 182

Charmaine Crowe
Policy Coordinator
Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association (CPSA)
Level 9, 28 Foveaux Street Surry Hills NSW, 2010
Phone (02) 9281 3588
Mob 0410 612 182
Fax (02) 9281 9716