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These two related Victorian family companies
have sold some homes to Ramsay and would have sold
more. There have been disputes with staff and
problems in two homes. One became a national
scandal in 2006 when four 90 year olds were
sexually abused and raped.
Paynesville Aged Care Facility and George
Vowell Centre
It seems likely that these are two closely related privately owned for profit companies. Ellis Residential care and Ellfam Nominees are referred to over the same period as if both were owners. From the reports it is clear that they can be considered as the same entity owned and operated by the Ellis family. Their spokesperson, Richard Ellis, and the minister were clearly in communication and he was appointed to government advisory committees to represent the private industry. This was at the same time as there were issues about the nursing homes he was responsible for.
All of the nursing homes were in Victoria and at one time the Ellis group owned 10 there. In the 2004/5 listing Ellfam Nominees are listed as the approved provider of 7 homes. During the same period Ellis Residential is reported as selling another 5 of their homes to Ramsay Healthcare.
Vision Australia Foundation recently announced that a company associated with Mr Ellis and his wife, Margaret, had bought its four Victorian nursing homes, including the George Vowell Centre.
Mar 2004 Vision Australia sells four homes to the group
Nursing home to stay open, residents told Mornington Peninsular Leader March 9, 2004
- - - - and we are a bit concerned that we would potentially be at risk, if you like, in the circumstances which, if it were Ellis or Elfam Nominees' operation itself would not - - -
May 2004 Ellis and Elfam closely linked
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS O/N 7107 AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION SENIOR DEPUTY PRESIDENT KAUFMAN C2004/2928 --- C2004/3136 May 12, 2004
TOTAL CURRENT RECEIVABLES | 7,844 | 7,001
2004/5 Sale to Elfam but later refers to Ellis Residential Care
Sundry debtors includes an amount owing from Ellfam nominees Pty Ltd of $5.915m for the sale of the Nursing Home Operations.
Vision Australia blindness and low vision services financial report 2004/2005
Ellis Residential Care spokesman Richard Ellis said many people were angry about the low level of Federal Government subsidies for people in aged-care beds.
Apr 2004 Ellis speaks for the industry
He said the cost of providing high level care beds was now 5 per cent more than income and subsidies needed to increase by $10.
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"It is now at the point of crisis where you have to take action."He said staff hours had been cut to meet the shortfall in funds.
Several aged-care providers said attracting staff was hard because wages were below those in the hospital sector.
Aged care challenge Maroondah Leader April 6, 2004
An examination of the Ellis Groups web page promises luxury and superor services. It shows photos of luxurious facilities. The company has also been a contributor to the funding of a university chair in aged care. At the same time it has been an aggressive negotiator of nursing salaries and has had problems in its nursing homes. We should ask where its focus is and what its priorities in funding have been - appearance and credibility or basic services to those in need.
I am also pleased that the Ellis Group has become involved in this partnership. Richard does speak his mind ? I recall the occasion well when we first met. Ellis Residential Care is known for its approach to residential care in terms of excellence and innovation and I am pleased that they are able to be part of this so that we have a collaboration between academics, and research, and the health system and the residential aged care sector.
May 2004 Supporting a chair in aged care
Launch of the Edith Morgan Chair in Aged Care, The Hon Julie Bishop MP Minister for Ageing May 6, 2004
If one consider the disputes with nurses and the allegations of poor care one wonders how well the business was really prospering and whether the Ellis family was trying to get out of the business. It sold 5 homes to Ramsay Healthcare with an option on the rest - an option Ramsay did not take up.
Ramsay Health Care is to acquire five aged care facilities in Victoria from Ellis Residential Care for an outlay of $51 million.
Feb 2005 Sells 5 to Ramsay
The facilities to be purchased include Bairnsdale Aged Care Facility, Lakeview Aged Care Facility (Lakes Entrance), Paynesville Aged Care Facility and Sale Aged Care Facility, which together have a total 331 high care and low care places.
(AERHC) Ramsay buys five aged care facilities Ralph Wragg Australian Business News February 2, 2005
Registered nurses and personal carers employed at Moe's Narracan Gardens Aged Care Facility have voted to begin rolling walk outs on Tuesday, 29 November following the owner Ellfam Nominees Pty Ltd's failure to respond to a proposed enterprise agreement.
Nov 2005 Nursing dispute
- - - - - Ellfam Nominees Pty Ltd did not respond to the proposal by the deadline on Friday, 18 November.
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The negotiations involve all six Ellfam facilities across the state. ANF members at Mirridong Nursing Home, Bendigo East, Elanora Nursing Home, Brighton Beach, Kelaston Nursing Home, Wendouree and George Vowell Nursing Home, Mt Eliza will meet to discuss their response to management on Monday, 28 November. The meeting at Oakmoor Private Nursing Home, Oakleigh has not yet been scheduled.
Media Release: Australian Nursing Federation AAP MediaNet Press Releases November 25, 2005
The George Vowell centre is one of six Victorian homes run by Ellfam Nominees, which also runs homes at Brighton, Oakleigh, Bendigo, Ballarat and Moe. Ellfam chief executive Heila Brooks said last night the facility took the allegations (of rape) "extremely seriously".
In 2006 the company is described as running 6 homes
New laws loom on nursing home rape The Age February 22, 2006
Two of Ellfam’s homes have been problem homes, one became a major scandal. This became the catalyst for exposing continuing serious problems throughout the system.
The Paynesville Aged Care Facility
The Paynesville problems are an early warning of what was to happen at another of Ellis facility 2 years later.
ABSCONDING residents and medication mix-ups were among failings uncovered in a Federal Government inspection at a Victorian aged-care home.
Oct 2004 Problems
The Paynesville Aged Care Facility failed 10 of the Federal Government's 44 standards and had its accreditation cut short after the August inspection.
Inspectors found staff failed to effectively manage the aggressive, intrusive and wandering behaviour of some residents.
One resident climbed over the nurses' station at least 17 times in a bid to escape the secure dementia unit, a report from the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency said.
Another resident dressed in a fellow resident's nightdress and cardigan and climbed into bed with the person.
And one resident threatened to hit a particular resident if not allowed into that person's room.
The Gippsland centre, formerly known as Paynesville Private Nursing Home, is home to 100 residents, including 40 with high-care needs.
The agency failed the centre, a combined nursing home and hostel, on medication management, clinical care and nursing needs.
Inspectors found some residents received more than the recommended daily dose of paracetamol, and staff failed to properly monitor residents' blood glucose levels.
Aged home not up to standards Herald-Sun October 21, 2004
The George Vowell Home was a chronic offender even when operating as a not for profit facility. It was built by Vision Australia (Society for the Blind) in 1980 on a parcel of land donated for this purpose by George Vowell. The operation was a charitable one for the elderly whose sight was impaired. Vision supplemented its government funding with numerous fund raising activities in the community. It had strong community support and volunteers helped it in its caring.
As well as providing fun for families and friends, the easy scenic walk will also be helping the local community, with proceeds going to the Vision Australia Foundation George Vowell Centre at Mt Eliza.
Oct 2001 Raising money - a walk
Vision Australia Mt Eliza centre service director Kate MacRae said the day would provide plenty of entertainment and action for families.
Bayside fun walk Mornington Peninsular Leader October 2, 2001
THE romance and mystery of a Valentine's Day masquerade ball will provide the perfect setting for Mt Eliza's Vision Australia George Vowell Centre's fundraiser next month.
Jan 2002 Another fund raiser - a ball
Romantic setting for charity ball Mornington Peninsular Leader January 15, 2002
VISION Australia has appealed for more volunteers willing to give up a little of their spare time to assist blind and vision-impaired people.
Jan 2002 Using volunteers
Volunteer co-ordinator at the Vision Australia George Vowell Centre in Mt Eliza Julia Minty said the need for volunteers was the result of the increasing demand for the organisation's services.
Volunteers with vision. Mornington Peninsular Leader January 29, 2002
A CELEBRITY golf day to raise funds for the Vision Australia Foundation's George Vowell Centre at Mt Eliza raised over $20,000.
Apr 2003 A Gold day
Golfers fired up for centre Frankston Standard April 21, 2003
Not for profit failures in care
Whether it was under funding for the more demanding blind patients, managerial ineptitude, or simply community ineptitude, the home ran into problems when new regulations and stringent inspections commenced. The allegations (which were denied) show some extremely poor money saving practices. It was in trouble in 1998 and again in 1999. It was the nurses who spoke out about what was happening. Nurses, who are closest to the residents are usually right. Once again there is reference to reduced staffing levels.
STAFF at a Mt Eliza nursing home have been asked to use plastic bags instead of gloves for invasive procedures, a leaked letter claims.
July 1998 Poor care
Nurses at the George Vowell Centre, operated by the Association for the Blind, claim hygiene problems are compromising the safety of staff and residents.
In a June letter seen by the Herald Sun, nursing home staff claim:
MANAGERS told nurses to use plastic bags instead of gloves to administer suppositories because there was a shortage of supplies.
EIGHT of the 12 pan flushers used to wash bedpans had been closed.
NURSING staff were forced to choose between catering duties, such as delivering tea, coffee and food trays, and important care tasks.
THERE was a shortage of incontinence pads and extra supplies were not accessible when the director of nursing was away.
SHOWER curtains and toilet screens necessary for patient dignity needed to be replaced.
"(Our) suggestions must be listened to if we are to have a chance of coping with reduced staffing levels and extra non-nursing duties," the letter said.
-------------------
The 60-bed George Vowell home is one of four operated on a private, not-for-profit basis by the Association for the Blind.In accordance with federal regulations, residents pay 85 per cent of their pension to stay at the home.
The union refused to comment on specific complaints yesterday but warned regulations protecting the standard of care in all nursing homes were being eroded.
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She said nurses in private aged care facilities, who earned 15 per cent less than their colleagues in the public sector, were being pushed out of the system. A spokesman for Family Services Minister Warwick Smith said the minister had stressed the need to keep nurses employed in aged care facilities.
NURSING HOME UNDER FIRE. Herald-Sun July 11, 1998
HOMES NAMED
Mar 2000 A recurrent and chronic problem
VICTORIAN nursing homes rated last year as posing a serious risk or unacceptable. (In reducing order of seriousness.)
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George Vowell Centre, Mount Eliza. SOURCE: Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency - SECT-News.
Alert over 11 homes Herald-Sun March 1, 2000
Vision Australia indicated that the sale of the four nursing homes owned by Vision Australia to Ellis/Ellfam was due to financial difficulties. The George Vowel was 24 years old and needed renovation badly. It is clear that there was strong community support for this nursing home and a community backlash occurred.
In 2004 Ellis Group promised that the service to the blind would continue and Vision indicated that it would remain involved. I did not see any mention about blindness in the reports when the scandal broke in 2006. One wonders what happened to the promises. Blind people take more looking after and one wonders if government adequately allows for this in its funding.
VISION Australia's George Vowell Centre at Mt Eliza needs a $7 million refurbishment the organisation can't afford.
Jul 2003 Selling for financial reasons
Chief executive Malcolm Daubney told a packed public meeting last week that this was one of the reasons for selling the centre.
He said the refurbishment was not financially feasible.
The 30-year-old centre, which houses 60 residents, will be sold along with three other Vision Ausstralia residential-care homes in Ballarat, Bendigo and Brighton.
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Mr Mansfield (a critic) said that while the organisers had convened the meeting to gauge public opinion, the decision to sell had already been made."The property was donated by the Vowell family for the benefit of blind people on the peninsula," he said.
"This facility is the only one for blind people on the peninsula once it's sold, that's for good."
Centre upgrade at $7m `not feasible' Mornington Peninsular Leader July 1, 2003
Mr Vowell's granddaughter Penny Ward said the sale was "on the face of it, pretty poor".
"My grandfather gave that land because there was little in the way of facilities for blind people on the peninsula at the time," Mrs Ward said.
"I would think he would be disappointed with the decision."
Vowells not happy about centre sale Mornington Peninsular Leader July 8, 2003
One relative was very perceptice when she questioned the term "reputable management". Only three years later 90 year old women in the home were being raped by a staff member while others couldn't be bothered to report it.
Mrs van Der Linden said her mother's future (as a resident) was now uncertain because while Vision Australia had promised to sell only to "reputable nursing home management" there were no guarantees.
Jul 2003 A "reputable" buyer
Sale of centre a `breach of trust' Frankston Standard July 14, 2003
STAFF and families of the vision-impaired say they are bitterly disappointed by the proposed sale of the George Vowell Centre's residential home at Mt Eliza.
Jul 2003 Disappointment
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"The community here and business and volunteers have given strong support, financially and of their time, to the George Vowell Centre over many years."Now Vision Australia are selling the land that has been donated to the blind and vision-impaired people on the Mornington Peninsula."
Vowell row widens Mornington Peninsular Leader July 15, 2003
Vision Australia says it has more than 50 per cent of its assets invested in these homes, but they service the needs of only about 1 per cent of the organisation's client base.
Jul 2003 Jul 2003 Vision explains
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"This property was donated and the mere intention to sell it for profit, at the very least, is morally bankrupt," she (critic) said
Vision boss defends move to sell centre Mornington Peninsular Leader July 29, 2003
THE new owner of Mt Eliza's George Vowell Centre has assured the families of the nursing home's 60 residents that it will stay open.
Richard Ellis, of Ellis Residential Care, said it would be "business as usual" at the centre.
"The home will continue as is, but over the next 12 months we will be looking at upgrading and redesigning it," he said.
"We will aim to lift the standard of the whole operation and will be looking to increase the number of residents further down the track."
Nursing home to stay open, residents told Mornington Peninsular Leader March 9, 2004
One of the consequences of this sale was to turn the community away from Mission Australia.
VISION Australia has blamed a 50 per cent loss in client referrals on misinformation and uncertainty among peninsula residents.
Aug 2004 Referrals drop
As a result, Vision Australia is finding it difficult to meet client targets.
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But Vision Australia continues to offer services at the Mt Eliza site.
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"We are a not-for-profit organisation and are government and state funded, but it has been very difficult to meet targets because the referrals have dropped off."The public in the peninsula think that a service that has been around 25 years no longer exists but we are here."
Vision services still there Mornington Peninsular Leader August 31, 2004
Four patients were repeatedly sexually assaulted and/or raped and other staff failed to report what was happening. Another of a series of scandals highlighting the failure of the aged care system eventuated - reinforced when similar problems emerged in other homes.
That the situation in this home was unsatisfactory is revealed by the complaints made by the family - complaints which were ignored. What actually happened and how the parties responded was revealed when one family went public on television.
The recurrent failures in the aged care system, of which this is one example, and the repeated attempts to patch the system without addressing the underlying dynamics are addressed on other pages.
Where is Ellis Residential Care's management? Interesting is the invisibility of the people ultimately responsible for the care of residents in this facility. Where was the outspoken and politically active Richard Ellis who had promised to "lift the standards" in this home. He has spoken on behalf of the industry and as "Managing Director of Ellis Aged Care" was a representative on the Ministerial Implementation Committee which advised aged care minister Julie Bishop in 2004. On another occasion she complemented him on his outspokenness.
I could not find any reference to him on the Ellis Residential Care web site in September 2006. It starts with the words "Excellence in Aged Care" in an elaborate type face.
We don't see or hear from Richard Ellis as the company's MD. He is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the home is managed and funded in a way which ensures that staff are motivated and involved when providing safe care. Could it be that he is too close to the system to be held accountable in any way?
TONY JONES: Well, they're supposed to provide a safe, caring environment for the elderly in the community to see out their twilight years, but, as Lateline has discovered, some nursing homes provide anything but. Tonight, the shocking allegations of sexual abuse of four elderly women in a Victorian nursing home. The alleged assaults by a male staff member took place over a six month period last year. The victims were all in their 90s and suffered from dementia. Police have now charged a man, but the case has prompted passionate calls for the introduction of mandatory reporting of abuse against the elderly. Margot O'Neill has the story.
Feb 2006 Four 90 year old ladies raped/assaulted
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GAIL CHILIANIS: I saw a lady slumped over the side of a wheelchair in a summer nightie, a cotton nightie, and this was in ... July? July - it was the middle of winter and it was Gran and I didn't recognise her. She had no teeth in, she had no glasses - which she needed - she needed glasses to see, her glasses. The ... her nightie was bunched up around her thighs. She was freezing cold. She had on slippers, but no socks or stockings. I thought she'd actually died.MARGOT O'NEILL: Staff couldn't explain what had happened to Anna. And over the next six months she went steadily downhill despite ongoing complaints about her care to the nursing home from her family.
GAIL CHILIANIS: There'd been this massive change. She was crying.
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MARGOT O'NEILL: They were told it was just old age and dementia. But in December, their worst nightmare was realised. Anna's family was contacted by police who told them their grandmother had been raped three times by a male carer over what could have been a six month period, and not only their gran. The man had either digitally raped or indecently assaulted three other women as well in their 90s, in the same nursing home. Police also told them that another staff member had witnessed one of the assaults against their gran.DEB CHAPMAN: The witness statement is incredibly graphic and it was the enormity of knowing that this guy had been charged with rape, and reading the witness statement that he wanted to cause pain. He had pinned her knee down with his knee, he was hurting her and she was crying out in pain.
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MARGOT O'NEILL: Even more shocking, the witness did not report the alleged assault for about two months, and Anna's family wants to know why.
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MARGOT O'NEILL: Deb and Gail's gran died in January, just months after the alleged rapes. By the end, she could barely whisper. Now her granddaughters are determined to speak for her and campaign for a public debate on laws against elder abuse.
Claims of sexual abuse at Vic nursing home Lateline ABC TV February 20, 2006
Former personal care attendant Henry Alexander, 34, of Mount Martha, has been charged with four counts of rape and two of indecent assault on four elderly residents of the George Vowell centre in Mount Eliza.
Feb 2006 An arrest
New laws loom on nursing home rape The Age February 22, 2006
Instead of notifying police immediately the home conducted its own investigation and no doubt prepared its justifications. It fired the staff who had failed to report the incident. It is important to look at the culture and the patterns of behaviour in the facility - a culture which made this and similar situations to which this is a pointer possible.
The nursing home conducted its own investigation before handing the case to police.
Feb 2006 Home investigated first
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Police told Anna's family a witness who allegedly saw her being abused did not report the incident until two months later.
OUTRAGE Emergency summit into aged care abuse Man charged with raping four women Herald-Sun February 22, 2006
If the allegations made by the family are to be believed then care in the facility was poor and their repeated complaints were ignored not only by the home but by the authorities to whom complaints were made. This failure by oversight authorities has been a consistent and recurrent problem in the USA and also in Australia at least since the Riverside scandal. There are a number of reasons for this but my argument is that it is a direct consequence of the sort of market system established in the USA and now in Australia.
One of the human failings for those in authority facing legitimate complaints is to justify and rationalise then shift the blame on to those complaining - the families or the resident. They are labelled as abnormal or in some way evil, and so discredited and denigrated. This is very well illustrated in the reports about this case
There have been many allegations made about the fear residents and their families have of complaining - fear that they will be victimised. The observation above explains why it is likely that these have foundation.
I cannot help but wonder to what extent the repeated particularly brutal rape of one 98 year old and the failure of staff to report this was related to anger and negative feelings about residents and families who had complained about staff. The reports are revealing.
DEB CHAPMAN (grand daughter): - - - - - We have endeavoured to communicate with the facility and the staff there, we've been intimidated and bullied by them. We've endeavoured to communicate with Department of Ageing, through the proper channels, their complaints resolution process. They have been, in my opinion, appalling. If the system worked, if the accreditation worked, if aged care nursing home high-degree facilities were working, why did this happen more than once?
Feb 2006 Bullied
Claims of sexual abuse at Vic nursing home Lateline ABC TV February 20, 2006
TONY JONES: - - - - - But first we hear from family members about how difficult it was to find out what happened to their grandmother and how they felt bullied by nursing home staff. Margot O'Neill has the story.
Feb 2006 Response to complaining
MARGOT O'NEILL: The intimidation started with a manager who met them on the first day they took their grandmother to the George Vale Nursing Home, says Gail Chilianis.
---------------------------------
MARGOT O'NEILL: Within the first year, many of their gran's best clothes had disappeared and her wheelchair had been broken, but when their father complained...GAIL CHILIANIS (grand daughter): The woman came up to him, the facility manager, and said, "If you don't like it, you know what you can do with your mother-in-law."
MARGOT O'NEILL: Even after their gran was allegedly raped, Deb Chapman says the nursing home manager was hostile when asked to provide better care for their gran.
DEB CHAPMAN, GRANDDAUGHTER: Her response was to put us down as though we were having an unreasonable request. When we walked out that day, mum was still sitting next to Gran. This facility manager went and sat on Gran's bed and suggested that I had a problem and that I needed counselling.
MARGOT O'NEILL: - - - - - - But Heila Brooks, the CEO of Ellis Residential Care, which runs the George Vale Nursing Home at Mt Eliza just outside Melbourne, denies that families are intimidated.
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MARGOT O'NEILL: In fact, Heila Brooks says she's quite happy with the system in place at the George Vale Nursing Home, even during the months last year when four women in their 90s were allegedly sexually abused by a male staff member.HEILA BROOKS: I very much doubt that there's anything we could have done that would have prevented it.
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MARGOT O'NEILL: Gail Chilianis says she also felt the Federal Government's aged care complaints resolution scheme failed to deal with their concerns. Despite writing a letter in early December last year, they have yet to receive a written reply. Instead, they've been telephoned twice.GAIL CHILIANIS: It was quite dismissive, the conversation. I felt extremely let down and extremely frustrated. Where do we go now?
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MARGOT O'NEILL: It's not only relatives that feel the system is in crisis, but many staff as well. Lateline also revealed last night allegations from a former staffer at a specialist Melbourne dementia unit, of physical and verbal abuse of patients, unnecessary sedation and serious medication mistakes.AGED CARE WORKER: When this error was discovered the words that were told to me by the acting manager at the time that came in to deal with this incident was, "This will not be discussed with anybody."
MARGOT O'NEILL: Were the families told?
AGED CARE WORKER: The families have never, to my knowledge, been actually told what happened.
Aged care abuse reporting scrutinised Lateline ABC TV February 21, 2006
It was not the first time that the family had cause to worry about their grandmother since she moved into the George Vowell home at Mount Eliza three years earlier.
Feb 2006 The situation in this home
In May, Ms Chilianis reported a host of smaller problems to the aged care complaints scheme - her grandmother's feet were catching under her wheelchair because it had no footrest, she was not dressed in her own clothes and her glasses and false teeth kept getting lost.
"She would be in bed from 4 o'clock in the afternoon . . . she had fallen out of bed numerous times and was bruised," she recalls.
Then in visits on three consecutive Saturdays in July, her alarm escalated.
First Ms Chilianis found her grandmother in bed at 11am, severely dehydrated and with dried vomit on her pillow.
The next week the elderly woman was sitting in a chair, without her glasses, wearing a saturated jumper. "She was crying. I had to be assertive to get some help and get her changed."
Sisters call for tough regime to end ill-treatment of aged The Age February 22, 2006
They wrote a letter to the Ageing Department in May detailing concerns about neglect.
Feb 2006 Earlier complaint to department
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They wrote another complaint letter to the Department on the 4th of December, but Gail Chilianis says they received no written reply, instead they got two phone calls.GAIL CHILIANIS: It was quite dismissive, the conversation. I felt extremely let down, extremely frustrated - where do we go now?
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SANTO SANTORO: I reviewed that letter and I've come to the conclusion that although that particular letter in May did not refer to the rape complaint, what it did refer to are other aspects of what I would consider as care and service delivery - failure of care and failure of service delivery that should've been looked at far more attentively, far more effectively. So yes, I think that your assumption there is right, but then all of this...
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SANTO SANTORO: Now, whether or not we at the Department should've got back to the two granddaughters, I personally think we should've.
Santoro admits flawed response to nursing home abuse Ageing Minister explains handling of abuse allegations. Australian Broadcasting Corporation Transcripts February 22, 2006
But Mr Howard and his new Aged Care Minister, Santo Santoro, insisted that the overwhelming majority of homes were free of abuse - despite a damning Senate report last June that criticised the complaints scheme for discouraging complainants.
Feb 2006 An isolated event or the tip of an iceberg
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HSU state secretary Jeff Jackson said bullying, intimidation and abuse of aged care workers meant that carers were often terrified of reporting.
New laws loom on nursing home rape The Age February 22, 2006
Ellis Residential Care web page is at http://www.ellisresidentialcare.com.au/
For Updates:- A good way to check for recent developments in aged care is to go to the aged care crisis group's search page and enter the name of the company, nursing home or key words relating to any other matter in the search box. Most significant press reports are flagged there. The aged care crisis web site has recently been restructured and some of the older links used from this site may not work.
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This page created Sept 2006 by
Michael
Wynne
