One in 10 Tasmanian aged care homes feel unsafe, survey reveals

Aged care residents in almost one in 10 Tasmanian aged care homes feel unsafe, a new survey reveals. See how safe your aged care home is in our online table.

Aged care residents have revealed how safe they feel in their facility, with people in more than 200 Australian homes claiming they ‘never feel safe’. See which ones.

Aged care residents in almost one in 10 Tasmanian aged care homes feel unsafe, a new survey reveals.

When asked the question, ‘Do you feel safe here?’ at least one resident from six aged care homes claimed they never felt safe.

Korongee in Derwent Park was ranked lowest for safety, with six per cent of residents surveyed saying they never felt safe. Another 12 per cent said they only felt safe some of the time, a fifth most of the time, and six in 10 said they always felt safe.

The Government data was collated last year from up to 20 per cent of residents from each home, with around 65 Tasmanian homes surveyed. The results go towards their overall Star Ratings.

Seven facilities in the state achieved a perfect score, with 100 per cent of those surveyed agreeing they always felt safe.

Anna Willis CEO AGED CARE JUSTICE. Supplied

Anna Willis, CEO of Aged Care Justice, which helps people seeking legal redress due to financial, emotional or physical damage suffered in residential aged care or home care, said there had been an uptick in complaints this year, with 45 inquiries already, compared to 110 last year.

“We have had serious complaints from all over Australia,” Ms Willis said.

Two complainants, with residents in homes not in this state’s lowest ranked, revealed how their mothers felt unsafe.

One said she was shocked to find her mother, who is in her 90s, had been prescribed strong antipsychotic drugs by a visiting GP, which she did not need, and put in a memory loss unit where people were screaming and shouting all day, and walking in and out of her room.

“While on those drugs she could hardly put one leg in front of the other and she was having falls in the nursing home,” the daughter, who did not want to be identified, said. She is no longer on those drugs and has been moved.

On another occasion the daughter arrived to find her mother’s feet were badly swollen, but no one had noticed.

“I raced up to the nurse and I said, ‘My God, look at my mother’s feet, look at this, they’re so swollen, the skin has split’. It was terrible.”

Another relative said staff failed to ensure her mother was able to get on a bus safely, and she fell, leaving her with cuts and bruises.

“They pulled her by the hands to pull her up,” she said. “They could have pulled her arms out of her sockets. Where’s the training or common sense? She’s fragile.”

The Aged Care Act, due to come into force in July, will give the regulator more powers to take action against aged care facilities.

One aged care resident suffered injuries after falling getting on a bus without help. SUPPLIED

Others homes in the lowest ranked five were Toosey Aged and Community Care in Longford, Uniting AgeWell Aldersgate in Kings Meadow, and Calvary Riverside Views in Riverside.

Peacehaven, in Norwood, which is part of Respect Group’s Limited, was ranked fifth lowest in Tasmania for safety. In this facility, seven per cent of residents surveyed said they never felt safe. It also received a 1 Star for staffing and failed to meet both its care minutes targets.

No comments were received from the aged care homes before deadline.

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Lowest ranked aged care homes in Tasmania (out of 4)

1. Korongee, Derwent Park (3.35)

2. Toosey Aged and Community Care, Longford (3.4)

3. Uniting AgeWell Aldersgate, Kings Meadows, (3.43)

4. Calvary Riverside Views, Riverside (3.47)

5. Peacehaven, Norwood (3.52)

Source: Department of Health and Aged Care.

The Safety Score was calculated by weighting the responses to the survey question ‘Do you feel safe here’, either never, some of the time, most of the time, or always.

Originally published as One in 10 Tasmanian aged care homes feel unsafe, survey reveals