Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In Australia the number of people aged 65 and over is expected to increase from 13.4 per cent of the total population in June 2007 to 25.3 per cent by 2047. That means there will be substantial pressures on our aged-care sector. Accordingly, I have been disturbed to hear about the inadequacy of the accreditation standards for aged-care facilities from family members who have loved ones residing in a local aged-care facility in my electorate.

Boyd Fraser, whose 91-year-old mother Valerie Fraser is currently residing at the St Jude's aged-care facility in Narre Warren, has raised with me his specific concerns about the failure of accreditation standards for aged-care facilities to ensure sufficient mobility and physiotherapy standards for residents.

After regular visits—and this pertains to Mr Fraser's mother, Valerie—to visit his mother, he became concerned about the lack of exercise and mobility sessions provided to her at the St Jude's aged-care facility in Narre Warren. Valerie suffers from dementia and arthritis. On a number of occasions Valerie was confined to her room and effectively had not exercise such as walking around the facility with her pusher.

Valerie also has a calliper fitted to her right leg to enable her to walk properly, which her son Boyd fits on her leg whenever he visits the facility. He notes that only after months of lobbying were staff required to fit the calliper to Valerie's leg daily to allow her some form of exercise; she had to do it herself.

He raised these concerns with the complaint resolution officer with the Aged Care Complaints Scheme. Boyd Fraser was disheartened by the lack of clear standards in relation to the measures that could improve his mother's mobility.

Mr Fraser is advised that notwithstanding the laudable goal of optimising resident mobility and dexterity, as per clause 2.14 of the accreditation standards, there is a complete lack of detail and provision for accountability of this particular standard. As I said, Mr Fraser has raised his concern with the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency, but the variability in the health status of aged-care residents would make an assessment too difficult.

One of the concerns relating to this is exception reporting. Under these particular standards, aged-care providers are not required to provide ongoing status of the elderly resident in their care, except if there is an exception, like an incident. As a consequence of this is, someone like Valerie, who has lack of mobility, has been imprisoned in her room without being able to exercise but, because she has not had an incident, it is not required to be reported. That is a problem with the standards. They need to be fixed up, and I am going to be petitioning to government as I have in the past to ensure that these standards are fixed up.