Aged-care watchdog gave no fines, despite wave of complaints

The Aged Care watchdog failed to issue a single fine or warning despite receiving more than 2000 complaints.

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck. Picture: Getty Images

The aged-care watchdog failed to issue a single fine or warning despite receiving more than 2000 complaints from April to June this year, of which 340 were directly related to infection control.

Complaints to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission soared in the months between Victoria’s first and second waves, increasing by almost 50 per cent on the previous quarter: 2119 complaints were recorded by the commission between April and June, with the majority stemming from infection control, lack of family consultation and communication concerns.

The commission can threaten providers with sanctions such as having their funding or ­approval withdrawn if they fail to heed warnings to improve their services, but not a single notice was issued over the period.

The sector has faced the highest death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic, with 654 Australians losing their lives while in aged care.

Opposition aged-care spokeswoman Julie Collins said the damning figures laid bare the failure of the regulator to ensure Australia’s aged-care homes were safe from COVID-19. “Despite the terrible stories from overseas, which exposed how vulnerable aged-care homes were to COVID-19 outbreaks, the Morrison government’s regulator failed to act. It is clear the aged-care regulator doesn’t have the powers and resources it needs to ensure older Australians are receiving high quality aged care. The Morrison government must fix this now,” she said

Just one warning was issued in the previous quarter between January and March when the commission received 1414 complaints, of which medication management and staffing numbers were the most frequently cited issues.

Joseph Ibrahim, head of the health law and ageing research unit at Monash University, said the sheer number of complaints was a clear sign of community distress. “It’s hard to believe that from 2000 complaints, not a single regulatory action appears to have been taken,” Professor Ibrahim said. “Given the commission received thousands of complaints, you would have expected more time and effort would have been put into rectifying the situation.”

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck said complaints could be resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant without progressing to regulatory action. “Throughout the pandemic, the commission has continued to expand its monitoring and compliance activities, including undertaking telephone assessment contacts and self-assessment surveys with all aged-care residential and home services, and conducting site visits to monitor and assess the quality of care at aged-care services,” he said.

Senator Colbeck said the government was committed to ensuring the commission provided national oversight of quality and safety in aged care.

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson said 1973 of the complaints had been resolved with the majority of infection control issues finalised. “Fifty-seven per cent of the infection-control issues were finalised to the satisfaction of the complainant,” she said. “The other 43 per cent were closed for reasons including that the commission was taking other regulatory action.”

Ms Anderson will appear alongside Department of Health secretary Brendan Murphy at the Senate inquiry scrutinising the government’s response to coronavirus on Tuesday.