Australia’s aged care system is “cruel and harmful” with services that are fragmented, unsupported, underfunded and often unsafe and uncaring, according to the findings of the aged care royal commission’s interim report.
In a report titled Neglect released on Thursday, the commission has called for an urgent overhaul of the sector, saying it is neglecting the needs of Australia’s older, vulnerable citizens and is “unkind and uncaring”.
Outlining a litany of problems in the sector fuelled by a culture of ageism, commissioners Richard Tracey and Lynelle Briggs have described the aged care system in Australia as “a shocking tale of neglect”.
“The neglect that we have found in this Royal Commission, to date, is far from the best that can be done. Rather, it is a sad and shocking system that diminishes Australia as a nation,” a statement from the commissioners says. Tracey died earlier this month.
Calling for fundamental reform of the system, the report says that urgent action in three areas is needed immediately, calling for for more home care packages to reduce the waiting list of 120,000, action to respond to the significant over-reliance on chemical restraints in the sector and removing young people with disabilities from aged care.
On the need for home care packages, the commission report says the system is “unfair”, with funding needed to allow people to live safely at home.
“By any measure, this is a cruel and discriminatory system, which places great strain on older Australians and their relatives,” the report says.
“It is shocking that the express wishes of older people to remain in their own homes for as long as possible, with the supports they need, is downplayed with an expectation that they will manage. It is unsafe practice. It is neglect.”
The report also highlights concerns about the country’s “ageist” mindset, saying this culture had led to an indifference to how older people were treated, with the conversation about aged care too often about burden, encumbrance and obligation.
“As a nation, Australia has drifted into an ageist mindset that undervalues older people and limits their possibilities,” the report says.
“Sadly, this failure to properly value and engage with older people as equal partners in our future has extended to our apparent indifference towards aged care services.
“Left out of sight and out of mind, these important services are floundering.”
Slamming the system as fragmented, unsupported and underfunded, and usually poorly managed, the report says that they are also unsafe and “seemingly uncaring”.
Describing evidence that the commission has heard since February as “difficult to tell and difficult to hear”, the commission’s report says it has heard stories of “unkindness and neglect” but says it is concerned that the extent of substandard care is difficult to quantify.
“However, the combined impact of the evidence, submissions and stories provided to the Royal Commission leads us to conclude that substandard care is much more widespread and more serious than we had anticipated,” the report says.
Pointing to “shocking evidence” of unacceptable practices in the sector, the commission says the major issues brought to the inquiry’s attention include inadequate wound management, poor continence management, “dreadful” food, high incidence of assault, the use of physical restraints and sedatives, and patchy and fragmented palliative care.
“It is shameful that such a list can be produced in 21st century Australia,” the report says.
Despite the call for urgent action and funding, aged care minister Richard Colbeck would not guarantee any additional funding saying only that the findings had given him the “imprimatur” as minister to push the case internally.
“The commission makes … some comment about what’s required in that space. I will use the imprimatur of the royal commission to carry all of those things forward with my colleagues,” he said.
While the government had been bracing for “difficult” evidence, he said he had been shocked at the commissioners’ findings.
Labor’s shadow ageing minister Julie Collins said the report was a “heartbreaking and shocking” reminder of the unacceptable state of Australia’s aged care system.
“It is shameful that in a wealthy country like Australia older people can’t get the care they need,” she said.
“The Morrison Liberal government must immediately act on the royal commission’s urgent advice. Older Australians and their loved ones cannot wait one more day for action.”
