NSW’s top and lowest rated aged care homes ranked in new government figures
New government data has revealed the state’s best and lowest performing aged care homes, with an audit revealing how residents were not being treated with dignity at one centre. Search the interactive.
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Clinical care, staffing levels and disrespect shown to residents.
These were some of the issues aged care facilities across NSW have been rated on in the most recent resident survey, the results of which were released by the aged care watchdog.
These were some of the issues uncovered inside the state’s lowest performing aged care facilities in the most recent resident survey by the aged care watchdog.
New data released by the Department of Health has rated all 835 aged care homes in NSW as part of a new ‘star rating’ system designed to improve standards within the aged care sector.
The publicly available rankings reflect the four month period between November 2022 and February 2023 and revealed four facilities – Anglican Care Storm Village in Taree, Burrowa House in Boorowa, BaptistCare Orana Centre in Point Clare and Macleay Valley House in Frederickton – received a one star rating.
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A further 86 homes received two stars, 448 received three stars and 280 received four stars. Eleven nursing homes, or just 1.3 per cent of the state’s total number of aged care homes, received the top marked ranking of five stars.
Of the facilities to receive the top rating, five were in greater Sydney including Catholic Healthcare Bethlehem House in Kogarah, Willoughby Retirement Community Hostel, Catholic Healthcare Brigidine House in Randwick, Anthem in Bowral and Southern Cross Care Marian Nursing Home in North Parramatta
The remaining six were in regional NSW including Oolong Hostel in Howlong, The Whiddon Group – Weeronga, Snowy River Hostel, Portland Tabulam Health Centre, Leeton Hospital and Wallsend Aged Care Facility.
The star rating system launched in November and assesses key factors such as staff levels, compliance, quality measures and residents’ experience.
Of the homes to receive one star, inspections by the Aged Care Quality Safety Commission (ACQSC) revealed various non compliance issues according to audits released by the commission.
Anglican Care Storm Village in Taree was non-compliant with seven of the eight key standards used to assess homes. An audit report of the facility released in January revealed residents were not always treated with dignity including instances of staff speaking “disrespectfully” to residents and “not listening” to them.
Pain management for residents was also deemed inadequate and the facility did not have a system to ensure staff were “always assessed as being competent” in tasks they were completing.
Burrowa House was meanwhile not compliant with five quality standards, according to the ACQSC audit report released publicly in March. The standards included personal care and clinical care, ongoing assessment and planning with residents, feedback and complaints, human resources and organisational governance.
Areas of noncompliance at the home included inconsistencies with how wounds were classified, and gaps in identifying the risks to residents’ health and wellbeing.
BaptistCare Orana Centre was non compliant with all eight quality standards during an inspection in May last year.
The audit report stated the service was unable to demonstrate that each consumer received effective care including skin and wound care, restrictive practices, continence, bowels, behavioural care, weight, monitoring processes, incident management and clinical observations.
Records also revealed there were “constant staff shortages” at the facilities and shifts were not always being filled.
An audit of Macleay Valley House in December showed the home was not compliant with the key quality standards of consumer dignity and choice, human resources, and personal care and clinical care.
In a statement, Anglican Care – the operator of Storm Village in Taree – said the organisation was “working closely with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission on continuous improvements.”
“Anglican Care supports the ACQSC’s audit and monitoring processes and is deeply invested in ensuring quality care for all its aged care residents,” a spokeswoman said.
BaptistCare Orana Centre and Macleay Valley House have been contacted for comment
Phil Coggins – the business manager at Burrowa House – was critical of the star rating system.
“In my view, the ratings system is absolutely useless and should be scrapped,” he said. “We were deemed non-compliant mainly due to governance and procedural issues. Not because of neglect, abuse, poor quality, or lack of attention to residents, but mainly because of lack of governance.
“Our facility has a great reputation in the region and beyond. We are always at full capacity and have a waiting list of at least ten.
Mr Coggins said rectifying the noncompliance matters was a costly exercise.
“The Aged Care Commission has actually hindered us by imposing financial sanction on us earlier this financial year,” he said. “The very organisation that is meant to protect our aged residents is actually making it financially harder.”
The Department of Health stated the star ratings system was put in place to help people in residential aged care and their families to understand how their service is performing.
The Department of Health said the ratings system was to help people in residential aged care and their families to understand how their facility was performing, as well as people researching aged care options.
National Seniors Australia chief advocate Ian Henschke said the ratings could help improve the standard of care.
“We certainly hope it will help to hold those with compliance issues to account,” he said.
“The latest update of the (rating system) shows some improvement however there is still a long way to go until the quality of residential care is where it should be.”
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