Husband seeks sector-wide changes after wife’s alleged neglect in aged care facility

The alleged neglect of an early onset dementia patient in a high care Cairns aged care facility has broken the trust of family members and prompted calls for better nurse-to-patient ratios.

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THE alleged neglect of an early onset dementia patient in a high care Cairns aged care facility has broken the trust of family members and prompted calls for better nurse-to-patient ratios within the sector.

Carer and husband of a 58-year-old patient, Armin Von Keyserlingk, has been left disillusioned and frustrated by a system he believes consistently fails the most vulnerable members of our society.

He recounted an experience in November 2017 when his wife was left unattended in a sunbaked courtyard with only socks on her feet.

Armin Von Keyserlingk has raised concerns about how his wife has been treated in a Cairns aged care facility. Picture: PETER CARRUTHERS

“The burns on her feet came from neglect, from being left out in the sun for about two hours,” he said.

“She had sunburn on her back and one of the soles of her feet got so blistered that one of the burns was close to a third-degree burn.”

Mr Von Keyserlingk’s wife was admitted to the burns unit of the Cairns Hospital, where she stayed for four days and was kept off her feet for two months to heal.

“It happened on the Sunday and wasn’t recognised until the Tuesday morning. She was showered on the Monday and no one picked it up … they should have noticed when they were putting her socks on, that’s amazing.”

The burns then became infected with golden staph and, in keeping the patient’s feet elevated, staff had used soft toys rather than pillows.

“The next morning I came in and her feet were propped up with huge teddy bears and the bandages were half off.

“I mean pillows are not that expensive,” he said.

Mr Von Keyserlingk has moved from Daintree Village to Cairns to be closer to his wife and has taken on aged care training in order to provide a level of care often lacking in his wife’s institution.

Ahead of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety hearings held in Cairns this week, the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union revealed nurse-to-patient ratios in Cairns to be among the worst in the state.

Mr Von Keyserlingk said he didn’t blame carers for the neglect of his wife but hoped the commission’s investigation would force reform on the aged care sector, which he believed often “put profit before people” in some Cairns institutions.

“It’s just the way the system is.

“I don’t blame the carers but we need better ratios,” he said.

Mr Von Keyserlingk spoke of a staff culture of fear about revealing what went on behind closed doors and he requested the name of the facility not be identified.

Originally published as Husband seeks sector-wide changes after wife’s alleged neglect in aged care facility