Massive cover-up of aged care chaos

Artist Eva Rinaldi recalls too vividly the image of her 80-year-old father Luigi Cantali that epitomised his neglect at Carino Care nursing home in Sydney’s Russell Lea.

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The daughter of an aged care resident still haunted by the harrowing memory of him draped in a bed sheet and in soiled incontinence pads, wants the government to immediately publish audit reports on failing care homes so families can make informed choices.

Artist Eva Rinaldi recalls too vividly the image of her 80-year-old father Luigi Cantali that epitomised his neglect at Carino Care nursing home in Sydney’s Russell Lea.

Eva Rinaldi would not have put her father in his nursing home if she had known its history of neglect. Picture: Justin Lloyd

Ms Rinaldi believes the months’ long delay in the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission publishing results of care home audits perpetuates the abuse of residents.

She suspected her father was being mistreated and turned detective, planting a secret camera in a picture frame that captured images of her blind dad sitting under a bedsheet, in soiled nappies and his bare feet drenched in a pool of urine on the floor.

“It broke my heart seeing dad like that, quivering under a sheet in dirty nappies. That image plagues me today,” she said. 

“If I knew now what the home was like and had access to the current report that said it passed only 10 of 44 benchmarks and that it had found examples of neglect, over my dead body would I have put Dad in there.

One of the images Luigi Cantali that horrified his daughter.

“More than one year on and my father’s case is still being investigated but the accused care worker’s visa has expired and she’s returned to Nepal.

“Where is that person now and is she still abusing other aged care residents? Nursing homes should give families of elderly people going into their care up-to-date copies of the latest audit report.

“It can take up to six months for the latest report to be published by the Aged Care Quality And Safety Commission.

“Dad was such a joker but he became withdrawn, paranoid and hated me in the end for putting him in Carino.’’

The current Carino Care home operator blames its predecessor Ark Health for the neglect and for failing most of the Australian Aged Care Quality and Safety Agency benchmarks, with a spokesman saying: “This was shortly before we took over … we have been working hard to improve the care and services.’’

Originally published as Massive cover-up of aged care chaos