Seven Victorian aged care homes fail, given penalties for not meeting standards

A number of aged care homes in Victoria have been served with notices requiring them to immediately improve standards. See the full list.

Seven aged care homes in Victoria have been served with notices requiring them to immediately improve standards, after they received penalties for poor care.

Despite a Royal Commission and billions of dollars in extra funding, the latest aged care compliance data shows between July 2022 and 30 April 2023 more than 1227 problems were recorded in aged care services around the country.

Some residents were found with old wounds and others had to wait six days to be referred to hospital after sustaining serious injuries.

Some residents were found with bed sores, or diabetes that was not properly managed; others were losing weight, and some did not receive adequate pain relief or were chemically restrained.

Even though some aged care providers had multiple reports detailing problems they were allowed to continue to operate.

Audits of homes found staff shortages and unqualified staff, and there were carers at some centres who did not understand medications or how to manage the behavioural problems of residents.

At various points during the nine month period, 79 homes around the country were found in such serious breach of aged care standards they would have qualified for a one star rating under the new system that commenced in December last year.

In Victoria, seven homes were subject to the second highest penalties for breaching aged care standards in the nine months to April and were served with notices requiring them to agree to improve their care in certain respects.

Eventide Homes in Stawell.

These homes included Allambi Elderly Peoples Home in Dimboola, Bupa Eastwood in Bairnsdale, Eventide Homes in Stawell, Hakea Lodge residential Aged care Service in Shepparton, Lyrebird Village for the Aged in Drouin, and May Noon Centre in Terang.

Some have since improved their services of change management.

Allambi Elderly Peoples Home in Dimboola closed in January 2023. The service was issued a Notice of Requirement to Agree to Certain Matters and Consideration of Sanctions in July 2022.

One resident in the facility developed a toe infection, others suffered falls from their mobility scooters or weight loss or did not have their pain managed. There were no plans for the use of psychotropic medication.

Bupa Eastwood in Bairnsdale.

One resident’s stoma was not properly managed and there were no guidelines for staff about how to deliver oxygen safely to patients who needed it.

Medication was not managed properly “increasing the risks of administering the wrong medication to a consumer.”

The service couldn’t demonstrate all staff approved to administer medications had the required knowledge and competencies to do so.

Bupa Eastwood in Bairnsdale was given a notice of requirement to agree to certain matters, the second highest reprimand in June 2022.

An audit of the facility found one resident was often dressed only in their underwear and their hair was unbrushed; another was always dressed in the same clothes and staff did not remove used clothes in the evening as requested.

May Noonan Centre in Terang.

There was poor hand hygiene, staff failed to clean shared equipment after use, and there was incorrect use of personal protective equipment.

Three care staff acknowledged that due to short staffing, medication was used to manage behaviours.

Poor management of wounds and pressure sores was reported and the facility didn’t get help for a patient with swallowing difficulties who frequently choked.

Staff did not cut up food for consumers and one resident with limited mobility was frequently left without a glass of water within reach.

No hairdresser had been arranged to visit for over 12 months, the rooms and kitchens were not always clean and there were not enough staff.

The home now has a four star rating and is classified as “good”.

Other homes with less serious breaches have been included on the list in the table below.

A Bupa spokesperson said “Eastwood received a notice a year ago in June 2022. In the past 12 months, we’ve seen significant improvement on all fronts. This is reflected in recent feedback from our residents and families and in resident care outcomes. Our team at Eastwood remain focused on providing the highest quality care.”

Lyrebird Village for the Aged in Drouin.

Eventide Homes in Stawell was also given notice of requirement to agree to certain matters.

It was told to hire an adviser to train staff in medication management, pain, falls review and prevention, infection prevention and control and appropriate use of personal protective equipment. The home suffered a major Covid outbreak in 2022. The home now has a three star rating and is considered “acceptable”.

Hakea Lodge residential Aged Care Service in Shepparton closed in April 2023. In August 2022 the home was given notice of requirement to agree to certain matters.

An audit of the home found one consumer felt that due to criticising the quality of meals provided by the service, they had been prevented from dining with their friends. For another consumer, a trial of new continence aids had not been implemented as recommended by an allied health practitioner. The pain of a dying patient was not managed effectively.

Lyrebird Village for the Aged, Drouin, was another centre given notice of requirement to agree to certain matters in July 2022.

Another audit of the facility in January 2023 found one resident had to have their thumb amputated because of poor wound management. Staff did not properly assess and manage wounds, pressure sores and anaphylaxis T wo care staff were unable to confirm where a resident’s ‘EpiPen’ was kept.

A high number of residents had experienced falls and staff didn’t respond to sensor alarms when the falls happened. Residents in one unit were left in the small lounge area in front of the television or their rooms all day.

Staffing levels were inadequate and the nurses had no knowledge of complex wound management. The home was recently taken over by another provider and does not currently have a star rating.

May Noonan Centre in Terang was served notice in November 2022.

In July 2021 an assessment found staff did not act in a timely manner to prevent deterioration in resident health. Deficits were found in pain management, pressure injury management, falls risk, medication, behavioural and weight management and urinary catheters.

Allambi Elderly Peoples Home in Dimboola.

In August 2022 a Notice to Agree was issued requiring the home to maintain an adequate number of appropriately skilled staff to ensure that care needs were met. A report in April 2023 showed the centre had still not demonstrated improved medication incident investigation and there were numerous medication errors. The home currently has a three star rating and is considered “acceptable”.

In December the Australian Government introduced Star Ratings for aged care homes to help people better compare providers.

Compliance is one of the four key areas of performance that make up the overall Star Rating.

Major reforms to aged care are underway with the May budget funding a 15 per cent pay rise for aged care workers.

From July aged care homes will be required to have a nurse on site 24 hours a day, although the government has admitted staff shortages will make this hard to enforce.

From October 1 residents will have to receive at least 200 care minutes per day, including 40 minutes with a nurse.

The Australian Government is also spending $12.9 million to fund a complaints service about food in aged care as well as introducing new nutrition standards.

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson said the commission was increasing its monitoring of the sector.

“In the 2022-23 financial year (to 31 March 2023), the Commission conducted over 1400 more visits to aged care services across Australia, across all service types, than for the same period in the 2021-22 financial year (1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022),” she said.

“This higher level of monitoring gives us greater confidence that we are identifying instances of non-compliance. In bringing these to a provider’s attention, we are essentially presenting them with both a clear expectation and an opportunity to change what they are doing and improve the outcomes for people in their care,” she said.

Where there is clear evidence of persistent disregard by a provider of their obligations, the Commission will draw on all available compliance and enforcement tools, including sanctions, to ensure that consumers are kept safe, she said.

“We can and often do also determine a shorter accreditation period for a residential service where we find non-compliance (ie. for a period significantly less than three years). This means that the service will undergo another full site audit sooner than would otherwise be the case,” she said.