Aged care royal commissions: Reforms won’t be in time for many

It will take five years to roll out aged care reforms, but the average length of stay for residents is only half that.

“Haunted, heartbroken” families of Queensland’s mistreated aged-care residents are demanding urgent action from the royal commission, saying the results must justify the pain of testifying and reliving their loss.

The recommendations of the Aged Care Commission final report must be implemented with “focus and urgency” to prevent abuse and neglect for continuing through another generation of vulnerable aged care residents, according to QUT associate professor and advocate Sarah Holland-Batt.

“The timeline for this report, in terms of rolling out the recommendations, is five years, but we know that the average time people spend in aged care is only 2.5 years,” she said.

“It is unacceptable that there are people living in aged care right now, and those who have not even entered it yet, who potentially will not see any benefits and continue to be affected by the fundamental problems in the system.”

Sarah Holland-Batt’s father Tony

In her submission to the Aged Care Royal Commission Ms Holland-Batt spoke of her late father’s “horrific” experience – including improperly administered medication, ongoing abuse and broken bones.

Ms Holland-Batt said the government had a duty to any families who were forced to relive “appalling and upsetting” experiences and endure “the gruelling process of preparing evidence and testifying”.

“It’s among the most distressing kinds of experience,” she said.

As his sister Debra testified to the royal commission about the fatal mistreatment of their 90-year-old mother, Queensland Police Union general secretary Mick Barnes said: “It is more than just a story; this is actually people’s lives.”

Mr Barnes remembers standing outside the courthouse carrying the photo of his late mother that now hangs in his office above his work desk.

“There is literally not a work day that I don’t think of our mother and the circumstances that led to her death,” he said.

Sarah Holland-Batt is pushing for change after her father’s experience.

Ms Barnes’s submission to the royal commission detailed the ongoing neglect of her mother in a nursing home which lead to the 90-year-old dying in hospital a week after being rushed there in a critical and unresponsive state.

“I felt like my voice... was not being heard and that I was powerless,” Ms Barnes wrote.

Ms Holland-Batt said: “Each of these stories has real consequences; real lives are affected, real people are grieving and those people have come together to tell their stories at the royal commission… in spite of that pain.”

She also said she found the two commissioners being split on their recommendations concerning.

“One commissioner is recommending that we make significant change to the existing structures of the aged care system – the same system that has allowed these failures and instances of abuse to be perpetrated and under-reported – while the other believes the structures should be scrapped and independent bodies established for funding, administration and reporting,” Ms Holland-Batt said.

“These diverging views are unhelpful, because the government needs to be provided a clear blueprint of the damning issues within the system and necessary reform so there is no wriggle room for delays, sidestepping or ignorance.”