AUSTRALIA: Aged care shameful

. WINNIPEG, Manitoba, Canada / Winnipeg Free Press / Columnists / June 6, 2009 By Michael Madigan On the morning Australia marks its most important military battle, an elderly war veteran was found in his nursing home bed bloodied ears. The 89-year-old had been chewed by mice throughout the night. They'd attacked mainly his head and ears, his bloodied hands a horrid testament to how he'd desperately tried to tear the rodents off. It was a story that shocked a nation further shamed by the fact it surfaced on Anzac Day (April 25) -- a day when Australians pay their respects to those who fought in past wars. This week, Australia was told that an 87-year-old man who fell last October at a nursing home and injured his hip was yelled at by staff and his injury went unnoticed. He developed ulcers that were left untreated. "Eddy" died in March and his family's complaints about his treatment were dismissed. Another woman was allegedly washed with a dish cloth while the filthy state of her bedding was ignored and the fact she had pneumonia overlooked. The reports, aired on ABC Television, highlight a growing unease about how our aging mothers and fathers fare when we trundle them off to the local nursing home. Like Canada, Australia has a rapidly aging demographic. The first trickle of baby boomers is entering those homes, which almost certainly mark a person's last earthly change of address. But the generation that invented the teenager is finding old age pretty much the way it's always been -- difficult. Last year there were over 700 complaints alleging assault in our nursing homes including 200 alleged sexual assaults. Just 53 were referred to police. Federal Aged Care Minister Justine Elliot can hardly be accused of ignoring the plight of those in aged care. She has announced a new "name and shame'' website to go on line on July 1 listing those nursing homes facing sanctions and in danger of losing huge government subsidies of well over $35,000 Cdn per resident per year. But the level of care along with the guilt of offspring about leaving Mum and Dad are combining to create an explosive social problem certain to shape a new political narrative over the next decade. Opposition critic on aging, Margaret May, this week condemned Elliot for neglecting seniors. "The minister must stop neglecting Australia's aged and frail and start providing the world-class care senior Australians deserve,'' she said. "There is no excuse for delaying the investigation into a vermin attack on an 89-year-old war veteran at a rural Queensland aged care home. This is a very serious failure of care.'' Jim Toohey, the respected CEO of the large nursing home group Tri-Care in the state of Queensland, says problems associated with caring for our aged in the years ahead will emerge at many different levels. A change in funding models permitted by the federal government -- most importantly a removal or modification on the ban of a "bond'' for those people requiring high level care -- is one of the first requirements for improvements, he says. The Australian government refuses to allow homes caring for those with the highest needs to charge a bond, insisting on meeting the bill itself. The reasoning behind the decision reveals genuine compassion and care. Governments don't want Australians in a desperate need of care in the last stages of their life having to face added financial stress. But opponents say the funding system strangles the sector, depriving it of much needed cash infusions to provide better services in an area already swamped by demand. Toohey says the new breed of aged care resident will also be much more discerning not only about their level of care, but their new environment. He recalls a resident of a few years ago who had reared more than 10 children and for years lived on a starvation diet so her family could eat, salvaging a few leftovers from the dinner table to keep herself going late at night. A shared room with three companions, three meals a day, outings and a television room all paid for by the taxpayer were luxuries she considered herself deeply fortunate to be enjoying in her autumn years. "That Depression-era generation has just about passed,'' he said. "Now we will be expected to provide single rooms, ensuites and make sure the wall paper matches the carpet, which is all fair enough. "But someone is going to have to pay for it." Michael Madigan is the Australia correspondent of the Winnipeg Free Press. He writes about politics for the Brisbane-based Courier Mail. © 2009 Winnipeg Free Press