Aged care complaints rise by 20 per cent

However, Commissioner Rae Lamb has welcomed the increase saying it meant more people were aware of the service and were willing to complain.

The Commissioner's 2016/17 annual report said of the 4,713 complaints received the majority (78 per cent) were about residential care. A further 15 per cent were about home care packages and seven per cent about the Commonwealth Home Support Program.

Of these 92 per cent had achieved early resolution, an increase of 25 per cent on the previous year and 4617 complaints were finalised, an increase of 16 per cent.

"I don't think the rise in complaints shows deteriorating standards of care," said Ms Lamb.

"Certainly we see instances where care has been very poor, and there are still people who should complain who don't. Nonetheless the number of complaints has to be balanced against the fact that more than one million people receive aged care. Plus we have been doing a great deal of work to raise our profile."

Ms Lamb said it was good to see that more people were complaining about home and community care as this had been an area where people had previously seldom complained.

"This year I challenged the industry to talk more about complaints and what they do about them. Complaints are a normal part of providing care and services. People need to know it's okay to complain and that when things go wrong, making a complaint can lead to improved care.

"Greater transparency about complaints will increase consumer confidence." said Ms Lamb.

Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said, "while the majority of aged care services provide a high standard of care, it is particularly important that problems experienced by people receiving care, who are often frail and vulnerable, are resolved quickly and fairly."

The Commissioner takes complaints about residential care, residential respite care, home care packages, the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, flexible care, including transition care, and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program.

THE daughter of a home care package recipient complained that she had asked her mother's provider several times to use a portion of her funds to buy a lift chair, but was told each time there weren't enough funds.

The daughter said that after her mother had changed to a new service provider, she became aware that there had been enough funds when she asked.

The Commissioner considered that the original care provider should have purchased a lift chair as soon as sufficient funds were available and raised the issue as part of an early resolution process.

After the review, the original provider agreed that they should have purchased a lift chair and advised that all of the remaining funds, which would cover the cost of the lift chair, would be transferred to the new provider. The provider also advised that they would work with the new provider to organise the transfer of money to streamline the process.

THE son of two home care package recipients complained that he had been pressured into signing new home care package agreements for his parents which contained changes to exit fees that had not been agreed to.

He told the Commissioner that the provider had asked him to re-sign the agreements that were in place for his parents as part of a required update and assured him that the content had not changed.

His parents' care had been brokered out by the service provider to a separate organisation and he now wished to move his parents' home care packages to this new provider. However, due to the new signed agreements, a higher exit fee was being applied.

The Commissioner's team contacted the service provider which acknowledged that it had not adequately explained fee changes to the son and immediately waived the exit fees.

AN elderly woman in a palliative state in an aged care facility wanted three things - a shower after she had been incontinent, hot food with less gravy and that she be repositioned more often.

The woman's son complained to the Commissioner that his mother found it difficult to communicate her wishes to staff because she had poor hearing and was speech impaired.

During a meeting the service provider acknowledged it had not taken enough initiative to note the resident's wishes.

Specialists were called on to review the resident's manual handling, nutrition and continence care and her care plans were updated. To support better communication between staff and the resident, the Commissioner's team suggested using a board with pictures of different care needs such as showering and toileting which the resident could point to when she needed that type of care.