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Ken Wyatt announces crackdown on physical and chemical restraints in aged care

Ken Wyatt has announced he will prepare “regulations” to protect nursing home residents against misuse of physical and chemical restraints.

Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt speaks to the media in Sydney. Picture: AAP
Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt speaks to the media in Sydney. Picture: AAP

Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt has announced he will prepare “regulations” to protect older Australians in nursing homes against misuse of physical and chemical restraints, including the abuse of antipsychotic medication revealed by The Australian earlier this week.

“Today I’ve asked my department to prepare regulations that will protect senior Australians within residential care. They’ll undertake that work and as soon as we’re ready we will announce those regulations,” he said.

Mr Wyatt said he has been working on the proposal for some time but was no longer prepared to wait.

“I said I want a regulation designed, developed for implementation. There is no going back from that point,” he told reporters in Perth.

In response to reports by this newspaper on Tuesday Mr Wyatt asked doctors to be more responsible with their prescriptions because they should not “stupefying” their patients.

Today, he reiterated that point.

“I just want to say to aged care providers: rethink your approach if you are using chemical and physical restraints, consider the options that the commonwealth have put into place previously, and work within those,” he said.

“And to the GPs who are providing scripts without seeing patients within aged care, can I encourage you to visit them, not to provide a script on request.”

Mr Wyatt said new regulations would be released in “a matter of weeks.”

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/ken-wyatt-announces-crackdown-on-physical-and-chemical-restraints-in-aged-care/news-story/adf04d74d4a40a13a77ba26107c506ab