In reconceptualising Australia’s obligations to its older people, seeing them not as vulnerable but as active right holders, the human rights approach has the ability to improve the standard of care delivered by aged care providers.

While residents should be able to assume that they are receiving the services for which they are paying, a 2020 ruling against Bupa, one of Australia’s largest aged care providers, revealed that this is not always the case.

By Harriet Knapman 1. Introduction When a consumer moves into an aged care facility, they may pay their accommodation costs in one of three ways: a refundable lump sum, a daily payment (‘DAP’), or a combination of the two. A refundable lump sum or Refundable Accommodation Deposit (‘RAD’) is an upfront full payment of accommodation…

This paper considers the current duty of care expected of providers and the most appropriate path forward in strengthening current statutory mechanisms.

This article addresses some of the difficulties that aged care residents face in achieving redress for deficient care through the current complaints process administered by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC).

For nearly 2 years ALARM has been focused on reducing the abuse and neglect exposed by the Royal Commission into Aged Care (Royal Commission) by ensuring aged care residents have a means to access legal support.

ALARM met with the new Government on Friday 22 July to strongly recommend the rejection of Schedule 9, Section 54-11 of the Aged Care and Other Legislation Amendment (Royal Commission Response No. 2) Bill 2021  (“A.C. Bill No 2”).

OPAN’s Ready to Listen project is a commendable initiative, as it aims to give providers the tools to appropriately respond to reports of sexual abuse.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD), is an opportunity to assess how far things have improved since the Aged Care Royal Commission delivered its frightening report on aged care. Sadly, there is still a long way to go.

Reports of sexual abuse against aged care residents exceeded a staggering 500 in the last 3 months of 2021. Concerned that not all victims report their abuse, CEO of OPAN Craig Gear has announced the Ready to Listen project.

Aged Care Watch submitted 6,500 reports of aged care residents left neglected and distressed to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission on Wednesday 27 April 2022.  This was first reported in The Guardian.

Those who experience or witness malpractice, in any medical setting, must be assured that they will not face retribution if they speak out about substandard care. This highlights the importance of protections for individuals who ‘blow the whistle’ on poor practices, whether they be staff or residents.

Aged care Royal Commissioner Tony Pagone was among 155 appointed a Member of the Order (AM), which is given for service in a particular locality or field of activity, or to a particular group.

We have made significant progress in many spheres, and are now well placed to pursue our objectives in 2022.

Recent legislative reform regarding the use of restraints and restrictive in aged care is insufficient to protect residents’ rights.

Australian legislators are at a crossroads with the current opportunity to improve the dismal state of aged care services. 

A recent Commonwealth government audit showed that 90 per cent of residents at a Newcastle nursing home had received psychotropic drugs without prior written consent.

The legal community has an important role to play in enforcing the rights of aged care residents in Australia.

The Honorable Tony Pagone KC, former Federal Court Judge and one of the Royal Commissioners into Aged Care Quality and Safety, has been appointed to the position of Patron for community legal support organisation, ALARM.

We acted for the daughter and granddaughter of a man (Mr W) who died as a result of the negligent care he received at an aged cared facility in Parramatta, New South Wales.

We successfully settled a negligence claim for our client who suffered mental harm (also known as ‘nervous shock’) when her mother was murdered by a nursing assistant at a facility in the Hunter Region.

We helped one of the families featured in the second part of Who Cares?, the ABC TV Four Corners expose into the aged care sector, to fight for justice.

We successfully settled a negligence claim for our client who suffered mental harm (also known as ‘nervous shock’) when her 80-year old father was murdered by a nursing assistant at a facility in the Hunter Region.

We assisted a client in her claim against an aged care facility concerning the preventable death of her mother (Mrs S) whilst she was under the facility’s care.

We acted for a client regarding the unsafe conditions and poor treatment she received as a resident in a retirement village.

We helped clients sue an aged care facility over the death of their mother (and grandmother) while in the facility’s care.

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety found that a victim of mistreatment in an aged care facility may obtain compensation through an action based on a breach of contract or in tort law e.g., a breach of duty of care.[2] This article focuses on the limitations placed on awards of damages or compensation in tort claims.

The findings of the recent Royal Commission into Aged Care[2] have shed light again on the astonishing amount of abuse that occurs in residential facilities in Australia. Some providers are subjecting residents in their care to poor nutrition, unlawful restraint, and neglect have been revealed as common experiences in homes which have been reported by the Commissioners.

This article is Part 1 of a series written by ALARM volunteers regarding residential aged care agreements (ACRA).

A recurring theme emerging from the recent Royal Commission into Aged Care (‘Royal Commission’) is understaffing and lack of proper training with respect to employees in Aged Care facilities throughout Australia.

Australia has one of the highest rates of its population living in residential aged care of any country in the world. Over 6% of Australian residents aged 65 or over live in residential aged care facilities, the second-highest in the OECD after Lithuania.

Recipients of aged care services have the right to lodge a complaint and raise concerns about the information, service or care rendered by providers.

The recent Royal Commission into Aged Care (“Royal Commission”) brought many uncomfortable truths about Australia’s aged care system into public consciousness. One is difficulties older Australians and aged care residents currently experience in accessing the care they need; another is securing access to justice when their rights are infringed.

A nutritious diet is a fundamental aspect of health and wellbeing. Several factors contribute to the poor nutrition of aged care residents.

Since 1997, there have been 18 Government investigations into the failing Aged Care system. These reports have failed to alter a status quo of abuse and neglect because they have not led to meaningful reform, this is a pattern of wilful blindness.