Adelaide aged-care provider Aboriginal Community Services fails six of seven quality standards, including unreported shower abuse

Staff at an aged-care provider looking after some of SA’s most vulnerable Indigenous people never reported a shocking shower abuse case.

Staff at an embattled not-for-profit organisation caring for some of South Australia’s most vulnerable Indigenous people failed to report an incident where a client was physically abused in the shower.

The shocking incident is detailed in a federal government report that found Mile End-based aged-care provider, Aboriginal Community Services (ACS), was non-compliant in six of seven quality standards in 2022.

ACS has come under fire after its former chairman Jim Golden-Brown became embroiled in allegations of funding misuse and misconduct in his previous role as head of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation.

Mr Golden-Brown has previously denied any wrongdoing, saying previous audits had failed to show any evidence government funds had been misappropriated. He has not faced any charges.

ACS said Mr Golden-Brown was replaced as chairman at an annual general meeting last November, but it is unclear if this was related to the allegations.

According to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s audit in 2022, an ACS client was abused by a subcontracted worker while being showered, but staff did not report the incident because they were “not aware of the process” in reporting suspected neglect and abuse.

The incident was eventually reported to ACS by another subcontracted occupational therapist.

“Service staff notified the subcontracted provider not to attend the consumer again but were unable to produce further case notes or identify actions taken by the service regarding follow up after the incident,” the commission’s report said.

“Management and the board were not made aware of the incident at the time it was reported.”

The report does not reveal when or where the incident occurred and The Advertiser contacted ACS for comment about the abuse case.

The commission conducted a routine audit of ACS in February 2022 and published its report in April 2022, finding the service was non-compliant in six of seven assessed aged-care quality standards.

The report stated ACS responded “proactively” to all issues outlined in the report and “planned corrective action”.

ACS provides aged-care services to South Australian Indigenous elders.

In a social media post late last week, ACS chief executive Graham Aitken said of the non-compliance issues that the not-for-profit service “has taken this as an opportunity to improve our business practices” and employed two new quality assurance officers.

Mr Aitken said ACS also purchased new computer software to improve internal processes.

“Service provision to Elders was not impacted by these noncompliances, which related mainly to administrative forms and processes,” Mr Aitken said.

[e-mail]