Aged care: Labor’s performance so far, as report reveals 1 in 7 homes fail to meet standards

Complaints to the peak body for older Australians is on track to exceed last financial year’s total of 36,904. Vote in our poll.

Two years after Labor pledged to improve aged care, the number of residents being shoved, rough handled or attacked increased last year, while incidents of neglect also rose.

Nearly 150 serious incidents were reported to the watchdog every day in 2023, while one in seven aged care homes and one in three home service providers failed to meet all the quality standards in the last quarter of the year.

The latest figures from the watchdog show in 2023 it received 30,853 reports concerning unreasonable use of force – around nine in 10 involved incidents between residents – and 18,190 reports around neglect.

The number of unexplained absences from care increased from 334 to 467 over the last two quarters.

In home services, neglect and stealing or financial coercion of an older person were the two most reported incidents.

Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The regulator said increased numbers of reportable incidents could be down to aged care homes getting better at reporting, which was positive, while also acknowledging that many reportable incidents were preventable.

Older Persons Advocacy Network CEO Craig Gear said complaints to his organisation were on track to exceed last financial year’s total of 36,904 and said he could understand how people were “frustrated about wanting reform”.

Mr Gear said that the Government had made a lot of changes since winning power, but that it was too soon to see the benefits.

“We are on the cusp of change,” Mr Gear said.

“The foundations have been put in place for a stronger aged care system, but we are not there yet.”

He said the new aged care act due to come into force next year would help cement older people at the centre of their care and help drive care.

OPAN's CEO Craig Gear

Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells said the Overall Star Ratings show the number of aged care homes given ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ care was up 23 per cent since December 2022.

She said the findings from the 2022 and 2023 Residents’ Experience Surveys show the “residential aged care experience in Australia continues to improve”.

Minister Wells said since winning the election the Albanese Government had addressed 89 Royal Commission recommendations and implemented five core aged care election promises including greater transparency, improved food nutrition, more care minutes, 24/7 nursing and an $11.3b investment to fund a 15 per cent wage rise.

“Our reforms have already had significant impact on residents, home care recipients, workers and providers with a 44 per cent funding increase in the care component of residential funding since we introduced the Australian National Aged Care Classification model in October 2022,” Minister Wells said.

Minister Wells said since 24/7 nursing was mandated last year, registered nurses were now onsite 98.88 per cent of the time, or 23 hours and 44 minutes per day in aged care homes.

Older people received an additional 3.6 million minutes of care every day due to the reforms.

Over the past two years there had also been a reduction in the number of pressure injuries, physical restraints and significant unplanned weight loss. However, there was a slight increase in the number of residents – nine per cent, up from a low of 7.7 per cent – recorded as having significant unplanned weight loss in the last six-month reporting period.

On Saturday we revealed the transparency tool on the My Aged Care website was full of errors, in relation to how much aged care homes spent on food.

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