Echoes of Oakden: Australian Aged Care Quality Agency audit red-flagged the Eudunda Senior Citizens Hostel

A STATE Government-run aged-care home has failed to meet basic care standards in the past month, after a snap investigation following the Oakden scandal.

• Matthew Abraham: Weatherill Government is in a ‘sorry, sorry’ state
• Oakden ICAC report: Vlahos tried to blame others and take credit
• Government ministers condemned but escape without sanction
• How SA’s health system failed vulnerable aged-care residents

A STATE Government-run aged-care home has failed to meet basic care standards in the past month, after a snap investigation following the Oakden scandal.

An auditor form the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency red-flagged the Eudunda Senior Citizens Hostel in January because it lacked the skilled and qualified staff needed to ensure residents’ welfare.

A follow-up visit will take place this week to check if the facility, which cares for people living with dementia, is meeting standards.

There is no suggestion that patient care and conditions at Eudunda is similar to the appalling conditions experienced at Oakden, where residents were abused.

It is understood neither SA Health’s chief executive nor the Health Minister was made aware of the issues first identified at Eudunda in April 2016 or in January.

Health Minister Peter Malinauskas on Saturday declined to comment on the Eudunda aged-care home.

Instead, a spokeswoman said Labor had accepted all ICAC report recommendations about Oakden “including ones that will result in improved governance across the system”.

SA Best leader Nick Xenophon has called for the Health Minister to be notified of all failed audits to ensure there was never again “potential for shocking treatment”.

The national auditor red-flagged the Eudunda Senior Citizens Hostel in January because it lacked the skilled and qualified staff needed to ensure residents’ welfare.

The shock revelation comes just days after the Independent Commissioner Against Corruption released a damning ­report on mismanagement of the State Government’s now-closed Oakden facility, where dementia patients were abused while living in prison-like conditions.

With similarities to the compliance process at Oakden, the on-the-ground auditors found the Eudunda facility was not meeting staffing requirements in 2016 but it was later signed off by the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency after being handed extra paperwork.

A scathing Senate inquiry report released last month found AACQA bureaucrats “overrode recommendations made by assessors who had visited Oakden, had seen poor care, and had reported on the shortcomings”.

AACQA conducted a special risk assessment of all 24 SA Government-run aged-care homes after the April release of the former SA chief psychiatrist’s report into Oakden.

AACQA chief executive Nick Ryan said the assessments identified one home was “failing” to meet human resourcing standards and it had been put on a “timetable for improvement”.

Under the accreditation standards, facilities must have appropriately skilled and qualified staff sufficient to ensure that services could be properly delivered.

Eudunda’s 2016 audit report said the home had processes to monitor staffing levels but it had not resulted in staffing resources to meet residents’ care needs.

“Staff interviewed raised concerns about their ability to meet care recipients’ needs in the time they are allocated,” the 2016 audit report said.

Health Minister Peter Malinauskas and Premier Jay Weatherill addressing the ICAC report last week.

“Care recipients and representatives interviewed stated there are insufficient numbers of staff to consistently meet care recipients’ needs.”

The January 2018 report has not been publicly released.

AACQA told the Sunday Mail that after the 2016 audit, Country Health SA Local Health Network provided details of actions taken to address the concerns identified at the site audit, which led to the Eudunda aged-care home being ticked off.

The home’s performance was monitored with an unannounced visit in April 2017, when no non-compliance was identified, but a subsequent unannounced visit in January 2018 found it was again not meeting staff requirements.

A Country Health SA spokeswoman said despite Eudunda having more staff than required under the enterprise agreement, AACQA found improvements were required to best meet residents’ needs.

“Since then, we have put in place a number of measures, including reviewing rosters, increasing the number of senior staff on site and working with residents and their families to review individual care needs,” the spokeswoman said.

Mr Xenophon said there must be a clear line of reporting so the Health Minister was made aware of all compliance issues in state-run aged-care homes.

“It’s disturbing the full lessons of Oakden have not been learnt. Non-compliance issues must be brought to the attention of the minister so there is no buck passing,” he said.

“There should be heightened awareness because the Oakden scandal showed there must be zero tolerance for non-disclosure of any failed outcomes, otherwise there is potential for shocking treatment.”

Liberal health spokesman Stephen Wade said the quality issues at Eudunda showed the Labor Government continued to fail vulnerable, older South Australians.

“This illustrates Labor’s response to Oakden has been about crisis management, not real change,” he said.

“In two weeks, South Australians have the opportunity to elect a Liberal team which is serious about providing real change and better services for older Australians.”