Government pulls funding from scandal-hit northern beaches aged care facility
ELDERLY residents are being fed “pig slop”, made to sit in their own faeces for hours and drugged with the wrong medications, according to relatives of residents at a scandal-plagued aged care home. The Daily Telegraph can reveal ten facilities had their accreditation revoked, with three of those closing down.
NSW
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ELDERLY residents are being fed “pig slop”, made to sit in their own faeces for hours and drugged with the wrong medications, according to relatives of residents at a scandal-plagued beachside aged care home.
The claims from distraught family members, who have labelled the conditions at the exclusive Bupa Seaforth as “horrendous”, come as the facility’s federal government funding has been suspended for new residents for six months due to its poor performance.
And one staff member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the home was a “disgrace”, blaming poor pay and being constantly short-staffed.
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The Daily Telegraph has confirmed the northern beaches facility failed to meet more than 30 of 44 basic care standards, including staffing levels, medication and pain management, and even clinical care.
The government found there was an “immediate and severe risk to the health, safety or well being” of care recipients. It put the home on a strict six-month improvement plan, with a warning that if it doesn’t shape up it faces being shut down.
Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said incidents such as this were of the “utmost concern”, adding the royal commission into the aged care sector would help ensure better standards in the future. Just last year the home was given the green light to operate for another three years after passing a regular audit without a hitch.
The snap audit was prompted by the alleged abuse of resident David Nabulsi by staff member Prakash Paudyal.
The 82-year-old was allegedly bashed with a shoe and roughed up in a shocking incident captured on a secret video camera his daughter had installed.
At a fiery meeting last Friday, Bupa management is also understood to have been told by the families of elderly residents they were seriously concerned about the possibility of further staff assaults on patients.
Greg Stockley, whose mother Lorna, 84, has lived at the home for almost two years, described the conditions as “horrendous” and said his mother was often given other people’s medication or none at all.
“The food is like pig slop. There was shepherd’s pie I wouldn’t feed to my dogs,” he said.
Mr Nabulsi’s daughter Ayda Celine said her father had gone days without being showered and she once had to badger staff for a week before his nails were cut.
Another family said their loved one, who was incontinent, had been forced to sit in his own faeces for hours.
A staff member said residents could be left at the meal table for more than an hour after eating as there weren’t enough staff to help them back to their rooms and when they needed help they were often forced to wait more than 20 minutes.
Labor aged care spokeswoman Julie Collins said it showed the government’s standards and reporting system was not working.
A Bupa spokeswoman said the company took the allegations seriously, adding: “We know there have been serious failings … we apologise to residents and their family members for this.”
THE BLACK-LISTED FACILITIES
1. Yagoona Nursing Home (Closed) (NSW)
2. The Ritz Nursing Home (Closed) (NSW)
3. Toukley Aged Care Facility (Closed) (NSW)
4. Henley Manor (NSW)
5. Wyong Aged Care Facility (NSW)
6. Ark Health Care Oatley (NSW)
7. Ark Health Care Sylvania (NSW)
8. Parramatta Aged Care Facility (NSW)
9. Ridgeview Aged Care (NSW)
10. Tinonee Gardens - The Multicultural Village (NSW)
Of the 10 facilities that had their accreditation revoked last year - three closed down and the rest were taken over by new management.