Two-in-five of Australia’s aged care residents suffer some form of abuse

A shocking rate of elder abuse in Australia’s aged care facilities has been revealed by the long-running royal commission.

Up to 40 per cent of Australia’s aged care residents suffer some form of elder abuse, according to a long-running probe.

In a research paper published on Monday, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety estimated 39.2 per cent of people living in aged care facilities are abused.

The most common form was neglect (30.8 per cent), defined as a failure to provide access to essentials such as food, shelter, adequate hygiene or medical care, followed by emotional abuse (22.6 per cent) and physical abuse (5 per cent).

Up to 40 per cent of Australia’s aged care residents face some form of elder abuse. Picture: Jamie Hanson

Ten per cent of those surveyed reported being neglected while showering, 6.8 per cent during grooming, and 5.9 per cent while using the toilet.

The royal commission also found 1.5 per cent of respondents reported they were physically abused by being restrained.

When only ‘main concerns’ were taken into account, excluding concerns the resident considered minor, the overall rate of abuse was 21.3 per cent.

The research did not include abuse suffered at the hands of other residents or family members at the facility.

The level of sexual, social and financial abuse suffered by aged care residents could not be estimated using the data available.

NCA NewsWire has contacted Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck for comment.

The government has committed to implementing the recommendations of the royal commission, which started in October 2018 and will release its final report in February.

The most prevalent form of elder abuse uncovered in the report was neglect. Picture: Supplied

The Coalition boosted the nation’s aged care funding by $1b this month, announcing another 10,000 home care packages.

Unveiling the funding, Prime Minister Scott Morrison described aged care as “an absolute priority”.

Labor’s aged care spokeswoman Julie Collins said the figures showed a “broken” aged care system under the Coalition.

“The Morrison government has taken far too long to introduce a serious incident response scheme that would respond to cases of assault and abuse in Australia’s aged care system,” she said.

“It has been more than three years since this scheme was first recommended by the Australian Law Reform Commission following its landmark investigation of elder abuse in Australia.

“How can anyone trust this government to properly respond to the Royal Commission into Aged Care when it takes more than three years to respond to such an important recommendation?”

Originally published as Two-in-five of Australia’s aged care residents suffer some form of abuse