Surprise audits for aged-care centres to prevent another Oakden-style abuse scandal

UPDATED: AGED care homes would be given star ratings and be handed a “report card” on performance, under proposed major shake-up of the system.

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AGED care homes would be given star ratings and be handed a “report card” on performance, under proposed major shake-up of the system.

As revealed by The Advertiser, an independent report into the nation’s aged-care auditing has also called for surprise checks to ensure facilities were providing proper care and scrapping announced visits.

The Carnell Paterson report, which was sparked by the revelations of persistent patient abuse and neglect at the now-closed Oakden facility in SA, contains 10 broad recommendations to overhaul the system which has failed older Australians.

Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said the Turnbull Government would move as soon as possible to implement unannounced assessment visits across residential aged care facilities.

“I have carefully considered the Carnell / Paterson Review of National Aged Care Quality Regulatory Processes, that I ordered after the shocking revelations about the Oakden mental health aged care residence in SA,” he said in a speech at the National Press Club.

“It is appalling that anyone could be treated so badly, and that this mistreatment was not detected earlier.

“While I ordered this review after Oakden, there have been other high-profile aged care failures which have highlighted where parts of our systems have sadly let us down.”

The review also recommends:

ESTABLISHING a single agency, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, that would bring together management of the system and create a Chief Clinical Advisor to provide clinical leadership.

ENDING planned accreditation visits and replacing them exclusively with unannounced visits where high-performing services would have fewer visits so the Care Quality Commissioner could focus on facilities with higher risk.

HANDING residential aged care facilities with a “performance card” comparing them to services with similar profiles and a star-rated system for public reporting of provider performance.

CREATING a serious incident response scheme that forced providers to inform the Aged Care Commission of allegations of a serious incident and investigation outcomes.

“While the situation at Oakden is not typical, the circumstances that led to it are certainly not unique,” the report stated.

“Oakden is a sentinel case and highlights areas for improvement in the regulatory system.

“We believe that implementation of the recommendations of this Review will help prevent a repeat of the regulatory failures that occurred at Oakden with such tragic consequences.”

The Oakden aged-care home was closed after a range of abuse allegations. Picture Mark Brake

The report was also recommended giving more teeth to the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner, who currently was bound by strict legal requirements.

It comes as the Coalition party room on Tuesday signed off on plans to force aged-care facilities to pay for unannounced visits that form part of the accreditation process.

Currently homes are scrutinised during only one surprise visit a year, but many in the sector believe facility administrators can work out the pattern by which audits occur.

“The old process of notifying providers ahead of subsequent re-accreditation reviews will go, replaced by comprehensive unannounced visits conducted over at least two days,” Mr Wyatt said.

“Our commitment to this will be relentless, on behalf of all senior Australians, who deserve nothing but the best of care.

“Aged care safety and quality are non-negotiable and must be delivered to residents 365 days of the year, without exception.”

Despite the glaring failures in care at the State Government-run Oakden site in Adelaide’s northeast, the Federal Government’s audit agency repeatedly gave it full marks to continue to operate, including in an audit in February last year.

But an unannounced audit in March found it failed to meet 15 of the 44 basic service requirements.

The audit process has focused on whether a home has a policy in place rather than whether it is being adhered to.

Mr Wyatt said the details of other recommendations still need to be worked through with all stakeholders.