Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I can provide Senator McLucas and the Senate with a very specific response to an issue that she has foreshadowed an interest in previously. I can advise the Senate that the Department of Health and Ageing has taken compliance action in relation to Elizabeth House Private Nursing Home in Victoria. The department has issued a notice of noncompliance, giving the approved provider until 22 December to rectify its compliance issues. This is the first step towards the imposition of sanctions, which may be imposed if the deadline is not met.

Elizabeth House was found to be non-compliant with 30 of the 44 accreditation outcomes when an Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency assessment team conducted a review audit in August 2006. The assessment team recommended to the agency that the home’s accreditation should be revoked. However, the agency decided against revoking the home’s accreditation in light of the immediate action that the home undertook to address the deficiencies. Since the review audit, the home has increased staffing levels, improved monitoring of staffing practices and conducted a review and reassessment of all residents’ needs.

The agency is satisfied that this action has immediately improved the care of residents at the home and has demonstrated the home’s ability to address the issues of noncompliance. The agency has, however, reduced the home’s period of accreditation, which is now due to expire on 1 June 2007. The agency has also placed the home on a timetable for improvement. It is obvious from the answer to this question and the answers to other questions that I have provided to Senator McLucas and others in this place that the Australian government has in place a comprehensive regulatory framework to ensure that any instances of poor care are quickly dealt with. This includes the commissioner for complaints, the accreditation agency and the Department of Health and Ageing.

All honourable senators in this place would be aware that we would never have become aware of the situation in those days 10 years ago before the Howard government introduced the quality and compliance procedures which residents and providers clearly benefit from. The agency and the department will continue to closely monitor the homes operated by Glenn-Craig Villages Pty Ltd, which oversees the nursing home in question. Contrary to what Senator McLucas has said, the nursing home in question has been dealt with in a very comprehensive and sensitive manner, with always the one dictum that guides us in terms of providing to our aged and our frail: that the care and the safety of all residents in aged-care homes remains the highest priority of the Howard government.