Paul Weston: How to fix God’s biggest waiting room on the Gold Coast

The evacuation of elderly residents from Earle Haven has put the spotlight firmly on aged care, writes Paul Weston. This is our chance to find the solution.

WE live on the Gold Coast, the last playground for retirees. This city is among God’s largest waiting rooms.

The evacuation of Earle Haven nursing home is a light switch moment for us.

This is our chance to find a solution to improving the growing number of “waiting rooms” — before someone suffers unnecessary harm or dies before their time.

GOLD COAST LAWYERS INVESTIGATE CLASS ACTION OVER EARLE HAVEN

Supplied images from inside Earle Haven Retirement Village as residents were removed from the facility.

POLICE TO DECLARE IF NURSING HOME BROKE ANY LAWS

We were warned. Late last year, in the Queensland Parliament, Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon referred to a statewide audit of nursing homes.

The Nurses Union audit found the federal seat of Moncrieff, which includes Nerang where the Earle Haven facility is located, was the worst with facilities in the electorate averaging only 1.69 hours of care per resident each day.

RELATED NEWS:

HelpStreet speak out about Earle Haven claiming money ‘safe and secure’

Thousands removed from Earle Haven residents’ bank accounts

Shocking number reveals level of care at Coast nursing home

Staff denied superannuation payments months before Earle Haven’s shock closure

On Facebook and during doorknocking, there were similar messages from residents: let me take my own life before putting me into one of those places.

Gaven MP Meaghan Scanlon and Senator Murray Watt at the Earle Haven aged care facility in Nerang. Picture: Jerad Williams

From late afternoon last Thursday through to 1am on the Friday, 70 frail, elderly people were evacuated from Nerang’s Earle Haven, with their loved ones not contacted for hours.

Medications were only organised days later. Medical records were still to be found. A family was told to gather to say goodbye to an 83-year-old evacuee placed in critical care.

OTHER NEWS:

Revealed: ‘Over the top’ security at Hillcrest meeting

Yuhu chairman sells stake in Jewel

Sneak peek at mega schools Creative Generation show

After his recovery, the man’s daughter told Attwood Marshall lawyers: “It was a huge roller coaster where I’ve gone from thinking ‘I’ve nearly lost him’ to going into ‘fix it’ mode.”

It emerges that authorities made recent sanctions against the home.

Clearly, the system of policing under the Commonwealth’s watch is not working fast enough.

Pause for a moment. It is critical to understand political parties will be reluctant to pre-empt reforms before the Royal Commission into Aged Care makes its findings.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE BULLETIN FOR $1 A WEEK FOR THE FIRST 12 WEEKS

Jeff Garrett, of Attwood Marshall Lawyers — shocked by the neglect of older patients.

The outcome here in the short term? The Commonwealth’s Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission will publish more sanctions but the public detail will be minimal.

Some key questions. How does the duty of care work, who can get compensation, what happens with finances? What is the security, financial and care-wise, for families in the longer term?

Attwood Marshall director Jeff Garrett says a non-delegable duty of care to the highest possible standard was owed to nursing home residents by the Earl Haven business entity PeopleCare and the provider, HelpStreet.

DISTURBING CLAIMS AMID ‘CHAOS’ OF GOLD COAST NURSING HOME

Helping the aged leave Earle Haven Retirement Village.

“One would have thought that PeopleCare must have been aware of the issues with HelpStreet, particularly when the facilities were sanctioned on Saturday 13 July,” he said.

Clients who became seriously ill during the evacuation can seek damages, as can their families for the stress. Criminal action is possible for neglect.

If money is owed from monthly payments, it needs a complaint to police. Ask stakeholders, and it is less clear how to protect bonds — in this case ranging from $300,000 to $500,000 — in the longer term.

Ms Scanlon said: “Some aged care providers are making big profits, some subsidised by taxpayers, but they are not delivering the services we expect.”

To save profits, some were dumping residents in need of care at Gold Coast emergency departments, she said.

A much tougher conversation is needed here about health policy.

Can we trust the private sector to deliver for our aged, or much like the hospital system, does the public take a bigger role?

Originally published as Paul Weston: How to fix God’s biggest waiting room on the Gold Coast