Aged-care provider’s delay reporting neglect in Bundaberg home

AN AGED care home at the centre of a deepening cover-up scandal over serious neglect has made misleading public claims.

AN aged-care home at the ­centre of a deepening cover-up scandal over serious neglect of frail Queensland residents has made misleading public claims about it having promptly re­ported negligence to the Health ­Ombudsman.

The disclosure yesterday that executives failed to report its disturbing findings last year to the Office of the Health Ombudsman will be included in a widening probe into systemic issues and clinical care at a Baptist-owned aged-care home.

There are mandatory reporting requirements for care providers and registered nurses, several of whom were directly involved in identifying serious clinical care issues at the aged-care home.

The first report to the Health Ombudsman was made on Monday — the same day The Australian published confidential documents and revelations by senior staff, residents and relatives of bashings, abuse, neglect, falsified incident reports, preventable injuries and suspicious deaths.

Baptist Community Services, which owns and operates the aged-care home in Bundaberg, north of Brisbane, claimed in a written statement to The Aus­tralian on Friday that it had promptly investigated two months ago, immediately identi­fied serious concerns for which it was “deeply sorry”, and singled out two managers.

The statement from the chief executive of the group, Jon Campbell, said: “We have referred both these individuals to the Office of the Health Ombudsman in Queensland.” He added: “We take our reporting obli­gations extremely seriously.”

The statement was sent by the Baptist group’s solicitors, Hynes Legal, shortly after they had applied for a Supreme Court interim injunction to prevent The Weekend Australian from publishing its planned articles, including damning leaked legal advice about serious concerns at the aged-care home.

Mr Campbell told Brisbane 612 ABC radio broadcaster Steve Austin on Monday: “We have complied with all of our requirements to report. There has certainly never been any intention to cover anything up.”

Mr Campbell said in a further statement: “In no way have we been party to a cover-up, or any failure of our reporting responsibilities.”

But the Office of the Health Ombudsman’s spokesman in Brisbane told The Australian yesterday: “Contrary to what the (aged-care) organisation has told you, we actually received notification from them (on Monday) — the same day the story was in the newspaper.

“There are mandatory reporting requirements and these apply for employers and registered practitioners when they are aware of certain reportable events.

“If that was the case back in December when they claim to have completed their internal investigations, that’s the time they should have reported to us.”

The Office of the Health Ombudsman wants a “please explain” from Baptist Community Services, which has issued a legal demand that The Australian reveal the names of its confidential informants and destroy key documents.

Queensland’s Health Practitioner Regulation Act requires mandatory notifications from an employer — in this case, the Baptist group — as well as health professionals about notifiable conduct by a health professional. Health professionals employed by the Baptist group were involved in early December in an internal investigation, which insiders say was then covered up.

Mr Campbell’s Monday statement said “a team of our most senior people commenced an investigation. The team included our executive manager, aged care, the regional residential manager, a specialist registered nurse and Carinity’s care governance manager”.

In a detailed December 17 legal advice, leaked to The Australian, Hynes Legal’s solicitor Julie McStay warned Mr Campbell: “If the issues (that are) the subject of the allegations were to come to the attention of the department or the agency, then it is likely that adverse action would be taken against the facility.”

The Baptist’s group communications manager, James Woods, asked why the notifications were made to the Health Ombudsman’s office after it became clear the media was investigating, said: “Two complaints were lodged last week as a result of Carinity’s comprehensive review of the issues at Kepnock Grove. The Ombudsman contacted us on Monday and indicated they had not received the information and it was immediately re-sent.”