An inquest is investigating the deaths of eight aged care residents at six facilities in 2021. All occurred after resident-to-resident aggression.
- Professor, Aged Care Medical Research Australian Centre for Evidence Based Aged Care, La Trobe University
The Australian government hopes an ad campaign will raise awareness to stop elder abuse. But it may do more harm than good.
Up to 60% of people with dementia will get lost at some point after diagnosis.
Someone who is self-aware may be a better choice then your nearest and dearest, when it comes to enacting your will and preferences as you age.
There are around 50 sexual assaults in Australian aged care homes every week. But staff are expected to assess the severity and impact of incidents without training.
Older adults’ experience of violent death is different to that of younger adults, our new research finds.
Whether CPR is performed in hospital will depend on the patient’s prospects of survival and recovery. But the doctors are also concerned about what the patient wants.
The free market experiment in residential aged care is failing older Australians. Rebuilding trust in the system starts with valuing residents’ rights, and holding government and providers to account.
The aged care royal commission has released its special report into COVID-19. But the recommendations generally fall short, and come too late.
The government continues to pledge funds for the aged-care sector in the face of COVID-19. But this is damage control rather than what we actually need — a co-ordinated, evidence-based national plan.
Aged care homes need to have protocols in place to prevent COVID-19 infection in the first instance. But in the event an outbreak does occur, they need to be well prepared.
Expanding suicide prevention frameworks to include aged care residents, aligning nursing home life with community living, and improving residents’ access to mental heath services will be key.
The aged care royal commission’s interim report paints a picture of a system in deep crisis. Its recommendations for action have some merit, but won’t address what are underlying, systemic problems.
New regulations to stop the use of physical restraint on the elderly recognise a serious problem in our aged care system. But in order to really fix this issue, we need to address what’s causing it.
By the time the aged care royal commission’s recommendations lead to improvements in our nursing homes, four cohorts of residents will have died. Here’s why.
Eliminating sexual assault in nursing homes is a major challenge which starts with acknowledging it exists and recognising the scale of this abuse.
The Conversation asked readers how they would want a loved one to be cared for in a residential aged care facility. What they said was similar to what surveys around the world have consistently found.
Around 140 Australian nursing-home residents have taken their own lives between 2000 and 2013, our new study shows.
The rising global prevalence of dementia, particularly in the nursing home population, means aggressive behaviours between residents will increasingly be an issue.
Evacuating nursing home residents during a disaster can be even more dangerous than staying put.
A report that recommends 43 ways to prevent elder abuse acknowledges we don’t even know how often it occurs in Australia.
We tend to consider the deaths of older people, and especially those in care, are due to natural causes. But new research shows how many die from injuries and violence.
Older people in nursing homes or aged care facilities are often locked up “for their own safety”, which new research says isn’t usually needed.
There is little if any evidence that the frequency of sentinel events reflects the overall quality of care provided by a hospital.
Junior doctors are often blamed when things go wrong in hospital. But are we placing too many demands on them?
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