Residents living in ‘climate of fear’ at Bupa aged care home in Seaforth

An internal report has revealed elderly residents were allegedly neglected and living in a ‘climate of fear’ at a northern beaches aged-care home.

Prakash Paudyal, left, pleaded guilty to assaulting David Nabulsi (right), the 82-year-old assaulted at Bupa Seaforth aged care home.

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A REPORT has revealed a litany of horrors at a northern beaches aged-care home, with residents living in a “climate of fear”.

An external consultancy service commissioned by Bupa heard some residents at its Seaforth home were given the wrong medications or left without adequate pain relief, spent extended periods in soiled incontinence pads, were insufficiently nourished and forced to call family members for help in the night because staff did not answer buzzers.

Prakash Paudyal leaves Manly Local Court in Sydney after pleading guitly to assaulting an 82-year-old man at Bupa Seaforth aged care facility. Picture: Joel Carrett

The report follows the arrest of Prakash Paudyal, 36, of Hornsby, who this week pleaded guilty at Manly Local Court to the assault of an 82-year-old man with dementia at Bupa Seaforth.

Paudyal was arrested in September after the victim’s family set up a hidden camera in the man’s room.

The report by Wilson and Webster Consultancy Services, obtained by the Manly Daily, reveals a grim picture of life inside the home.

Allegations from relatives and residents include:

● Patients “sitting or being fed while in soiled pads for extended periods”;

● Staff misunderstanding the needs of people with dementia, interpreting their behaviour as aggression leading to “defensive behaviour and a climate of fear”;

● Residents forced to call family members late at night for help because staff were not responding to buzzers;

● Staff too busy to check that patients were eating, resulting in “residents not getting sufficient nourishment”;

The exterior of Bupa Seaforth aged care home on the northern beaches.

● Medications being given to the wrong patients, in the wrong amounts, or a delay in receiving them, including inadequate pain relief;

● Patients suffering loss of dignity by being taking to the dining room in pyjamas or readied for bed at 4.30pm;

● Residents left feeling too scared to complain about things such as burnt toast;

● Dirty dishes left for days;

● Property going missing including rings, watches, glasses and underwear.

The report found that these concerns were not necessarily common to all attendees but the examples had been included to show how “systemic failings have impacted on service delivery and care for residents”.

The consultants found that many of the issues occurred after cuts to staffing or changes to managers and that many staff were poorly paid, inexperienced and had a poor grasp of English.

After Bupa Seaforth received a sanction notice from the Department of Health it met with residents and families to apologise, as well as appointing consumer champion Beth Wilson to speak with them.

Bupa Australia Aged Care chief operating officer Carolyn Cooper told the Manly Daily: “We are taking action to address the issues raised at Seaforth and have a new, experienced general manager at the home who is leading a comprehensive improvement program.

“The health and wellbeing of our residents is our number one priority and we are committed to putting things right at Seaforth in line with our standards and community expectations.”

Bupa said it had already addressed a number of areas highlighted in the report.