By ANGELA POWNALL
The West Australian
December 6, 2010
Welfare advocates have called for urgent reform of the aged care sector after new figures showed complaints about aged care homes and alleged assaults on residents were on the rise.
The Federal Government's report into the Aged Care Act also highlighted the shortage of residential care places, with almost 8 percent of elderly people assessed as needing high care waiting at least nine months for a bed.
Council on the Ageing WA chief executive Ken Marston said the statistics showed the immense pressure aged care services were under.
"There's a huge shortage in WA and it's getting worse," he said.
"Where are these people going? They are going into care awaiting placement, something between an acute hospital and a nursing home, or they are in the community being cared for by people who simply don't have the resources needed.
"We have people parked all over the place."
The Federal aged care complaints investigation scheme received 13,166 complaints in 2009-10 - 5 percent up on the previous year - mostly about health and personal care, and alleged abuse.
While complaints increased nationally, the report did not specify the number of complaints in WA in 2009-10. There were 1085 complaints in WA in 2008-09.
However, officials made fewer visits to WA residential care homes in 2009-10, with 184 announced site visits and 34 unannounced site visits compared with 197 and 42 respectively the year before.
Fewer breaches of aged care regulations were uncovered by officials, with 51 being identified in WA residential care homes last year compared with 75 in 2008-09.
Alleged assaults on residents in aged care homes increased to 1488, with 256 of them involving alleged unlawful sexual contact.
Lynda Saltarelli, from advocacy group Aged Care Crisis, said there was a lack of transparency about nursing home complaints which prevented elderly people and families making informed decisions.
Ms Saltarelli said the quality and quantity of staff was another big problem. "Staff are run off their feet and often have to deal with lots of resident with high care needs," she said.
Aged care providers have argued that they are underfunded by the Federal Government, which subsidises aged care beds.
Federal Ageing Minister Mark Butler said yesterday Australia had one of the best aged care systems in the world but the Government was aware that it needed reform.
Mr Butler said the Productivity Commission was investigating detailed options for aged care reform and said the Government had "full faith" in the complaints investigation scheme and the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency.
SOURCE: Yahoo News, Australia
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