Australia’s aged care quality watchdog has taken compliance action against St Basil’s Home Randwick in Sydney’s east, the Daily Telegraph reports.
It follows an inspection on the home by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) in June which found the home was non-compliant with 35 of the 42 key benchmarks the commission uses to assess the wellbeing of aged care residents.
This includes non-compliance with consumer dignity and choice, support for daily living, inadequate food, and systems for handling feedback and complaints.
The report included deficits in the review of care and services for residents in relation to falls management, deteriorating mental health, and pain.
The audit also found the service was unable to demonstrate it had implemented an effective COVID-19 outbreak management plan or that staff had access to resources or information to assist communication with non-English speaking residents.
Other grounds of noncompliance included inadequate food with inspectors finding lunch services in a dementia unit consisted of puree with large amounts of gravy.
Residents also gave mixed feedback as to whether they received the personal care and clinical care that was “safe and right for them”.
The inspectors noted the home’s demographic was largely Greek and the facility was part of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Australia, however the service was unable to demonstrate staff had access to resources or information to assist communicating with residents who do not understand English.
The facility will not be able to receive Commonwealth subsidies for any new care recipients for six months, must participate in fortnightly teleconferences with the ACQSC, and complete fortnightly reports outlining the facility’s steps towards improvement, as part of the compliance action.
According to The Daily Telegraph, St Basil’s Home acting chief executive Spiro Stavis says the facility was committed to addressing the areas of noncompliance.
“At St Basil’s Homes NSW/ACT Randwick we’ve begun introducing adjustments to close the gaps identified across the aged care quality standards,” a statement reads.
“It has been a challenging period in the aged care sector, and we understand that there is significant trust placed in us to meet resident expectations and those of the regulatory system.”
“This is not an outcome that we wanted for our home or our residents because at St Basil’s Homes NSW/ACT we pride ourselves on providing quality services under the values we hold dear, for the health, dignity and safety of our cherished residents.”
Mr Stavis said the facility has appointed Anchor Excellence as advisors to participate in fortnightly reporting and teleconferences with the ACQSC, along with supporting the home’s leadership group to address the sanction issues, and supporting onsite clinical and governance operations.
“Residents and their representatives …. have been very responsive and supportive in assisting us to make improvements to plans relating to residents’ individual care. It is encouraging to have their support in improving our home,” he said.
Source: Daily Telegraph
