Commonwealth announces Royal Commission into Aged Care

In announcing the Royal Commission into Aged Care, the Prime Minister said, “providing the resources and power to police … standards will always shine a light on the problems that exist.”

This is like saying of a train wreck, that shining a light with resources and power by rescuers will make a difference to the injured, but it will not. For aged care residents, it is they who need the resources and empowerment, as well as the government.

All the government agencies with their enhanced powers can only ever do part of the job of detection of poor care. Until now, that has not been enough, thus the appointment of a Royal Commission.

When the government realises that the best and most efficient way to detect, describe and report poor and bad care, is through the resident and their families and advocates who are the best reporters, then we will begin to make progress.

Progress in this case can however be measured by how a complaint is dealt with. Since the Aged Care Act (Cth) was introduced in 1997 the complaints system has been framed in such a way that it cannot provide an impartial venue for claims to be made by the resident which will result in redress or restorative justice, in cases of harm or injury, which are binding on the provider.

This then, is the most important omission from the Terms of Reference just announced by the Prime Minister.