What happened at Oakden, a South Australian aged care facility was a great tragedy that went on for far too long.
It was found that for years, there were countless accounts of elder abuse and neglect, which eventually lead to the closing of the facility.
Though the staff and those in positions of care are responsible for what when on in the facility, questions arise as to how it went on for such an extended period without any regulatory bodies knowing.
The aged care watchdog denied responsibility for abuse and mistreatment of residents at Adelaide’s Oakden nursing home.
Australian Aged Care Quality Agency chief executive, Nick Ryan, was asked about the organisation’s handling of the saga during a Senate inquiry hearing on Monday night.
“Poor care is unacceptable and where there is an incident of poor care and a pervasive culture as there was at Oakden, every single part of the system clearly has the opportunity to learn lessons,” Ryan said.
He wouldn’t accept responsibility for the neglect and abuse, “it’s the provider that is responsible,” he said.
Ryan acknowledged his organisation could have done better, should have dug deeper and not accepted misinformation from the home.
“That home should not have fallen off our watch list,” he said.
“Questions about blame are a different issue.”
South Australia’s Independent Commissioner Against Corruption just yesterday said that they will release a report with the findings from his secretive maladministration probe into the Oakden nursing home.
Commissioner Bruce Lander has said, “I have decided that it is in the public interest that my final report is published and I intend to do so”.
In his report, Lander will name at least three figures linked to the State Government-run facility.
There were delays in releasing the report, according to Lander, because there was questions as to whether he was allowed to name the individuals in his report without their consent.
“This matter has necessarily resulted in a delay in bringing the investigation to an end,” Lander said.
“While this has been a distraction those persons were entitled to make submissions and it was appropriate that the matter be determined.”
Landers announced that he was going to conduct a maladministration probe into the health department’s management of the Oakden last May – making his investigation span almost nine months.
“Having determined the matter I will now proceed to finalise my investigation. The collection of evidence is complete,” Mr Lander said.
The final report will be published on February 28.
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