List: Aged care homes, services found non-compliant by watchdog

An aged care resident with a known choking risk kept eating toast at a home that failed in all but one national standards. SEE THE LIST

A Melbourne facility that failed to meet all but one aged care standards was among the services found non-compliant with national benchmarks by the industry watchdog in January.

Sixteen residential and home aged care services around Australia were deemed non-compliant with national standards in the first month of 2025, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission data shows.

Grace Villa Aged Care, a home in Greensborough in Melbourne’s northeast, failed to meet seven of the eight standards.

The eight standards comprise 42 requirements.

A finding of noncompliance with one or more requirements of a standard deems the service non-compliant with that standard.

Grace Villa Aged Care did not meet 12 after a site audit in November.

A resident with a known choking risk did not have a risk assessment completed for his choice to continue to eat bread, a report prepared by Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner delegate Bruce Bassett said.

The provider acknowledged errors regarding the resident with a choking risk who continued to eat toast, the report said.

“The service provided records demonstrating they had apologised to the consumer and his representative for the oversight in not completing a dignity of risk assessment,” it said.

“This has now been conducted and the consumer has chosen not to eat toast anymore.

“The service also outlined other actions taken to ensure staff were aware of this.”

While Mr Bassett’s report acknowledged remedial action to address specific examples, he wrote he was not convinced staff had a shared understanding of supporting residents in undertaking risk or that processes were embedded to manage risk.

The service maintained a locked perimeter due to its proximity to a main road intersection and management had not considered individualised options to allow freedom of movement for residents who did not require an environmental restraint, the report said.

“I am not convinced that management or staff are fully conscious of their responsibilities to minimise the use of restrictive practices and facilitate the opportunity for consumers to exit the service if they wish to,” Mr Bassett wrote.

Mr Bassett acknowledged actions had been taken to address deficiencies identified by the assessment team.

Grace Villa Aged Care was deemed compliant in personal and clinical care, but standards it was non-compliant with included feedback and complaints, services and supports for daily living, and organisational governance.

The report said residents said staff treated them with dignity and respect.

The home, operated by Samkay Health, declined to comment.

Originally published as List: Aged care homes, services found non-compliant by watchdog