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This company owned a home in Albany which was a
chronic offender. It is another example where
managers from the accreditation agency overturned
assessors advice that accreditation be
withdrawn.
Albury
and District Private Nursing Home
This is another company owning a single nursing home, Albury and District Private Nursing Home, in NSW on the border with Victoria.
Gonzales became the owners of this nursing home in 1997. It has been a recurrent offender. There were serious problems under a previous owner in 1996 and action was taken to revoke the licence but I did not find out what happened
At the Albury , residents live four to a room in a building the Commonwealth says fails to meet fire and safety standards. Management has failed to respect the dignity, privacy and confidentiality of the residents, according to official inspection reports.
May 1996 Moves to revoke approval
Like many homes, Albury has charged residents for basic health items which it is funded to supply; and its approach to continence management, the most fundamental care standard, has been harshly criticised.
The proprietors, Peter and Valerie Boardman, showed the Herald ceilings which needed replacing, cracks in the floor, old furniture and the "holding room", where relatives could mourn their dead. Other homes have small chapels; the Albury has a narrow cell where the oxygen tanks are stored.
In a rare move, the Commonwealth has begun action to revoke the Boardmans' approval to run the home and has imposed sanctions so they cannot admit new residents.
The Boardmans blame standards "creep", Commonwealth discrimination against private operators, former staff, their landlord and, most of all, inadequate Government funding. They point to the non-profit Lutheran home, saying it pays no taxes and can draw on voluntary donations.
Five-star Luxury Or Overcrowding - It's A Lucky Dip Sydney Morning Herald May 15, 1996
The new owner John Jeramic bought the homes in 1897. He clearly expected the enterprise to be much more profitable than it was and he claimed he had invested a large amount of money. Standards were it is alleged still very poor and they were skimping on food. It was back in trouble in 2000. Once again the residents' view was very different to that of the agency staff.
A NURSING home that had a patient restrained in a chair and others infected with scabies has been rated unacceptable on 16 out of 35 outcomes by the Government's Aged Care Standards Agency. Staff at the 59-bed Albury and District Private Nursing Home have told The Daily Telegraph patients were receiving only a sandwich and a spoon of jelly for dinner and claim some were subject to physical and verbal abuse.
Jul 2000 New owner same problems
They said some residents were infected with lice and scabies, and the carpets were soaked in urine after John Jeramic took over the running of the home in 1997.
But relatives of those in the home said they were happy with the standard of food and care provided by the home and a tour by The Daily Telegraph found it to be clean.
The Aged Care Standards Agency visited the home in May after staff complaints to the Federal Government during the past three years.
The agency's report, released yesterday, found the home unacceptable in continence management, behavioural management, clinical care, privacy and dignity, choice and decision making, resident security of tenure and responsibilities, living environment and continuous improvement outcomes.
----------------------------------
When The Daily Telegraph visited the home earlier this month, Mr Jeramic said he had invested more than $1 million since taking over the running of the home three years ago.
Nursing home failure - But relatives are satisfied. Daily Telegraph July 19, 2000
There were serious problems again in 2001 a year late. This was another instance where a firm recommendation by assessors that the home’s accreditation be revoked was overturned by the managers of the agency in spite of the recurrent nature of the problems. Note the discrepancy between the views of the residents
The nursing home accreditation process in NSW is under scrutiny after a second recommendation that a home lose its accreditation was overturned.
Jul 2001 Agency overrules assessors advice
In a damning report, assessors found an Albury home had failed to meet 12 out of 17 standards for health and personal care.
It follows the recent recommendation to revoke the accreditation of Sydney's Yagoona Nursing Home, which was later overturned.
While the staff at the Albury and District Private Nursing Home were reported to be very caring and compassionate of their patients, an audit by the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency found the home was not responsive to the needs of residents, their representatives, staff or stakeholders.
Some residents were found to be "very thin and emaciated'', had not received regular or timely attention from either a podiatrist or dietician`` over the past months'', and staff were administering suppositories and enemas without required medical orders.
Residents were told they had to buy their own air-conditioners, despite this being a responsibility of the home.
Some residents were also told they had to pay for their own fruit, fruit juice, personal toiletries, wheelchairs and shower chairs.
Staff had been requesting equipment to keep food fly-free for six months, and no action had been taken about complaints since January that too many flies were getting into the home.
In February there were 11 wounds with either staph or streptococcal infections.
The home was found to be not complying with State nursing home regulations, Health Department infection control policies, Quality of Care principles, WorkCover requirements, State poison regulations and the Aged Care Act.
Despite the bad report, the agency's NSW manager, Mr Rod Bushrod, overturned a recommendation that the home's accreditation be revoked.
Reprieve For Second Aged Care Home Sydney Morning Herald July 4. 2001
Despite the damning findings, a recommendation from assessors that the home's accreditation be revoked was overturned by the NSW manager of the agency.
Jul 2001 Assessors advice overturned
This was despite him finding ``the service is not likely to undertake improvement against the accreditation standards if its accreditation is not revoked''. The home's accreditation was instead cut by one month.
Pensioners Mount Attack On Bishop Sydney Morning Herald July 6, 2001
The home was back in trouble in 2003. Instead of being sanctioned the company was allowed to continue provided it appointed an adviser for 6 months and its period of accreditation was shortened.
An audit in July 2003 questioned 12 of the 44 criteria. In three (marked*) the manager overruled the assessors no-compliant decision and in another (marked#) the manager changed the compliant assessment to non-compliant. The home therefore failed nine of the 44 criteria.
It continued to have many problems and was sanctioned in 2004. An adviser was brought in to address the problems
Standard 1: Management Systems, Staffing and Organisational Development
Jul 2003 Accreditation failures
- Continuous improvement
- Education and staff development
- Human resource management*
- Information systems#
- External services*
Standard 2: Health and Personal Care
- Continuous improvement
- Education and staff development
- Medication management
Standard 3: Resident Lifestyle
- Education and staff development
Standard 4: Physical Environment and Safe Systems
- Continuous improvement
- Education and staff development
- Living environment*
Standards and Accreditation agency Audit July 2003
The agency also gave the Albury and District Private Nursing Home the all-clear in January to remain open despite its failure to meet the basic accreditation standards.
Nov 2003 Still problems
But a separate team of inspectors visited the home in July and found a litany of problems.
Management has since been threatened with closure and ordered to clean up its act or lose its accreditation.
"A lot of the issues were related to the training and education of staff," David Powis, whose company Universal Care Management has been called in to fix the nursing home, said.
"There were some physical needs that needed to be addressed and they are being addressed," Mr Powis said.
-----------------------
They also checked Albury and District Private Nursing Home and discovered:* The showers were set at temperatures of up to 48C which can cause second-degree burns to the elderly after just a few minutes
* Faeces and urine were left on toilet seats and bedpans
Staff failed to keep track of medications and forged documents to make it appear they were correctly administered, when the wrong medication or none at all was given
Dirty secrets of millionaire's nursing home Daily Telegraph November 3, 2003
The federal Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Standards Agency imposed sanctions on the Albury and District Nursing Home in Albury for endangering residents safety because of poor staff training.
Jan 2004 Sanctions imposed
Agency inspectors found that staff (Albury and District Nursing Home in Albury) were exposed to outbreaks of staph and scabies.
They also found the nursing home staff, in most cases, had inadequate medication training.
This meant staff did not keep track of pills and even forged documents to make it appear that medication had been correctly administered.
-----------------
"They didn't teach us anything, they didn't even give us rubber gloves as a precaution," the woman (aged care worker) told The Daily Telegraph."You're not in it for the money but you don't expect to get an awful illness like this either."
Untrained caring for aged - Nursing home safety fears grow Daily Telegraph January 6, 2004
The home was compliant in all 44 criteria in November 2005 and was accredited for 3 years. One wonders about the wisdom of giving a home which has been such a recurrent problem so long a period of accreditation - out of sight was out of mind perhaps.
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
