‘Heartbreaking’: Victoria’s aged care horrors revealed in royal commission report

The aged care industry is plagued by “abuse, mistreatment and neglect” with meals served “like dog food” according to harrowing royal commission findings.

One in three Australians in aged care homes have experienced substandard care, with the royal commission uncovering horrific stories of sexual assaults, violence and meals “like dog food”.

The commission’s report, after a two-year inquiry, said the system was plagued by “egregious abuse, mistreatment and neglect”, prompting one nursing home resident to declare that dying was “a preferred option”.

The horror stories included:

A LACK of end-of-life care which left dying Australians to experience “unnecessary pain or indignity in their final days”.

IGNORANCE of oral health leading to rotting teeth, “terrible examples’ of substandard incontinence care, and infections and injuries from inadequate wound care.

THE use of physical and chemical restraints which caused serious harm, health complications and even death.

Families of those who died at Epping Gardens during the second wave are taking action against the aged care home Picture: David Caird

POOR dementia care that led to “unnecessary distress and left pain untreated”.

UP to half of nursing home residents struggled with malnutrition and dehydration because of poor quality food.

MEDICATION was regularly dispensed incorrectly, with one woman describing how her mother was “drugged to the eyeballs”.

The commission concluded many aged care providers did not focus on quality of life.

“(This) has included care that did not meet older people’s social and emotional needs, that was dehumanising, failed to recognise individual needs and failed to support older people to make meaningful choices,” the report said.

“We heard about a loss of dignity and privacy, carelessness and unkindness. And we heard devastating evidence about older people feeling isolated, lonely and bored, without engaging or meaningful activities.”

The commission estimated there were as many as 44,131 alleged assaults in aged care homes in 2018-19, including up to 50 incidents of alleged unlawful sexual contact every week.

“This is a disgrace and should be a source of national shame,” it said.

One woman said her mother was repeatedly sexually assaulted by staff, who “threatened to kill her if she spoke about what they were doing”.

Aged Care worker Kim Barwise Picture: Ian Currie

Sharon Woodward, with a picture of her father Sam Scicluna, 85. Picture: David Caird

Research conducted for the inquiry found just 11 per cent of residential care homes delivered high quality care, while more than half had “unacceptable staffing levels”.

Kim Barwise, who worked in aged care homes for 20 years, told the Herald Sun she quit because of the horrific conditions.

She described how private homes were a “production line” in which overworked staff had to make “heartbreaking” judgment calls on prioritising residents who were incontinent or needed lifting out of their beds.

“If this was happening to children, there would be a massive outcry. But it seems like the elderly are forgotten, but they are human beings,” Ms Barwise said.

The report said: “The extent of substandard care in the current aged care system is deeply concerning and unacceptable by any measure. The current system is deficient in its ability to measure the quality of care.”

Commissioner Lynelle Briggs said the COVID-19 pandemic, which killed 655 aged care residents in Victoria, had “reminded us all again of the crisis in aged care in this country and of the failure of our leaders to take responsibility for what happens in this system”.

Sharon Woodward, whose father Sam Scicluna died after contracting the virus at Epping Gardens, said providers needed greater scrutiny to ensure they were complying with regulations.

She said her father and other residents were let down by a lack of care.

“Places like Epping Gardens and others can’t get away with what they’ve done,” said Mrs Woodward, who has worked in the aged care industry for the past seven years.

“What I saw in there was unacceptable. We need to make sure it can never happen again.”