Bupa Eden has escaped having its accreditation revoked, with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission announcing at the last minute it will re-accredit the troubled facility.
But Bupa Eden remains under sanction, and is being closely monitored by the Commission.
Pupa Eden has failed a number of consecutive audits over the last 12 months.
In August 2018, Bupa Eden failed five of the 44 aged care quality standards.
In November 2018, the facility failed 22 of the 44 standards.
And then in an audit in March 2019, the Commission found Bupa Eden failed 30 of the 44 standards, placing residents at “serious risk”, and prompting the Commission to revoke accreditation from 16 August.
But the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Ms Janet Anderson PSM, told HelloCare the Commission was encouraged by a recent unannounced audit which revealed the facility is making progress in remedying its problems.
As a consequence, the Commission has decided to extend Bupa Eden’s accreditation until February 2020.
“Following an unannounced site audit at the Bupa Eden residential aged care service, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has decided to accredit the service for a period of six months, with the accreditation expiring on 16 February 2020,” Ms Anderson said.
“In making the decision about the service’s accreditation status, the Commission noted the service has made progress in rectifying previously identified non-compliances,” she said.
A spokesperson for Bupa told HelloCare, “Our application for re-accreditation has been successful.”
The Commissioner said, “The decision to accredit also included placing Bupa Eden on a timetable for improvement to enable it to continue working towards full compliance.”
The facility also remains under sanction, meaning it can not accept any new residents, and it has had to appoint an administrator and advisor at its own expense.
Bupa Eden remains closely watched by the Commission.
“The Commission will continue to monitor the service and again assess its compliance with the Aged Care Quality Standards at a further unannounced site audit in the coming months,” Ms Anderson told HelloCare.
The Bupa spokesperson told HelloCare, “We have made a number of changes at our Eden home, and are keeping residents and their families informed as we progress.”
The changes implemented include putting a new leadership team in place, and recruiting new staff, including new assistants in nursing, an additional registered nurse, a recreational activities officer, a maintenance officer, and a physio-aide to support the physiotherapist.
Bupa Eden said it has also reviewed resident care plans, boosted training for clinical, kitchen and laundry staff, ensured staff take time to speak to residents, and planned additional activities for residents.
Ms Anderson told HelloCare the latest audit report will be available on the Commission’s website in “the coming weeks”.
Bupa currently has nine aged care facilities under sanction, of the 72 facilities it operates Australia wide.
There should be an independent audit of Bupa Eden’s re-accreditation, according to Paul Versteege, policy manager with the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association.
“In total, out of Bupa’s 72 nursing homes Australia-wide, 34 (47 per cent) have recently been or are currently in trouble with the regulator,” he said in a statement.
“Bupa Eden itself continues to be under sanction until the end of the year in spite of its re-accreditation. In light of those statistics, the 11th-hour escape and re-accreditation of one of the worst offending Bupa nursing homes should be distrusted.”
This is exactly what facilities have been saying, interpretation of the standards by department assessors. There is no way a facility would fail five standards and only six months later they fail twenty two! Impossible.
I wonder how many places will fail under the new standards which are very subjective and really the opinion of the residents and the assessors. call me sceptical, but when a home is under snactions, it saves the government a whole heap of money.
Ageed Linda, just the act of changing ACFI to perhaps the RUCS assessment tool saves the government tens of millions during the period.
The liberal government has obviously more empathy for their budget surplus than the aged population living in aged care facilities. No other explanation for the disgraceful way they are underfunding the sector.
Regrettably the public seems to have decided that the industry is well funded and refuse the facts despite the evidence. This is particularly frustrating for operators.