Comment
After Riverside: COTA's prescription for aged care
The Council on the Ageing is keen that the kerosene bath episode at Riverside results in some positive outcomes for aged care in Australia. Denys Correll, COTA’s national executive director, explains what COTA sees as the priorities for change.
It is now almost three years since the Government introduced its controversial reforms to aged care such as nursing home fees, a new classification scale for people needing care and more stringent certification processes for facilities. The changes were brought in under comprehensive new legislation called the Aged Care Act. There is a two-year review of the Act now underway and the report is due later in 2000.
However, COTA believes that the problems of Riverside Nursing Home in Melbourne highlight the need for changes and a rethink of how some aspects of our aged care system work.
Complaints mechanisms
The information strategy to let older people and their families know about the complaints mechanisms has not met COTA’s expectations. The complaints mechanism was slow in getting started with the first brochure only appearing in September 1999. However, COTA believes the structure is sound. What is not yet apparent is consumer confidence.
Feedback to COTA suggests that there is an overemphasis on mediation when a resident or carer believes a serious wrong has occurred. In these situations the mediation process has, to the consumer, appeared biased in favour of the provider.
COTA recommends to the Government that it establish a complaints committee consisting of representatives of consumer organisations to advise on the functioning and further development of a complaints system.
Advocacy
Fundamental to consumer confidence is access to advocacy services. Like the complaints services, these are not well known. Consumers who are hesitant about making a complaint, for whatever reason, need the assistance of an independent, consumer focussed advocacy service.
Standards
COTA has noticed that there is a tendency for some services to hover somewhere near the boundaries of acceptability in terms of certification and outcome standards. They fix immediate problems and then are found some months later to have slipped in their standards. COTA recommends that homes of concern are more vigorously reviewed, monitored and advised that minimal adherence to standards is unacceptable. An overhaul of the appointments system to the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency is needed so that consumers and providers become greater stakeholders.
Powers
COTA believes that there needs to be an option in the Aged Care Act for the Government to appoint an administrator in the event of extreme circumstances such as in the case of Riverside. While there are complex legal implications, it is preferable to the transfer of residents to other facilities.
Waiting times
It is hard to obtain details of waiting times for residential beds. In one Melbourne metropolitan region, there were a reported 1480 persons on waiting lists in February 2000. The average waiting list was 27 with some up to 80 and some with none on their list. Anecdotal information suggests there are unacceptably long waiting times for quality high care beds.
These are just some of the issues confronting seniors and residential care. COTA will continue to represent, with vigor, the interests of older people.
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