Aged care complaints on the rise

The Health Services Union has called for urgent changes in aged care after new figures showed more than 1000 people complained about services in the past year.

The Commissioner for Complaints Annual report shows Victoria is once against the worst state with 30 per cent of complaints (290) followed by NSW with 28 per cent (280) and then Queensland and South Australia with (105 and 101 respectively).

Quality of care again topped the list of complaints followed by consultation and communication and then the physical state of facilities.

HSU national secretary Craig Thomson said the rise in the number of complaints was a major concern.

"Families and the staff who are trying to provide the best possible care are being let down," he said.

Complaints are rising and that confirms the experiences of our members that staffing shortages, a lack of training and an ineffective industry watchdog are having a serious affect on care standards.

"Unfortunately the official number of complaints is just the tip of the iceberg. A further 10 per cent of complaints were not accepted and members and families tell us that there is still a disturbing culture in the industry that discourages complaints being made for fear of reprisal.

"The report also confirms the findings of the bi-partisan Senate inquiry earlier this year that many people are unhappy with the way the Federal Department of Health and Ageing's Complaint Resolution Scheme handles complaints.

"The department's own survey showed that over a quarter of the people (27 per cent) who complained did not believe their problems had been satisfactorily resolved and 23 per cent were not totally satisfied with the overall service provided by the scheme."

The Senate Inquiry into Aged Care in June this year called for an overhaul of the Complaints Resolution Scheme finding that it effectively "culls the number of potential complaints" and many potential complainants were discouraged from making complaints.

"The government has done nothing in response to the Senate inquiry in six months despite it raising a host of serious concerns about the standard of aged care including the poor treatment of people trying to make complaints," Mr Thomson said.

"The Minister Julie Bishop has got her head in the sand and is obviously not interested in hearing or doing anything about the real concerns of staff and families about the state of aged care."

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Last Modified: Tuesday, 10-Jan-2006 13:47:34 EST