Carinity Aged Care sanctions revoked
The federal government has overturned its decision to impose sanctions on Carinity’s aged care facility at Laidley in Queensland, acknowledging the sanctions should never have been imposed in the first place – a decision welcomed by the aged care provider as the only just outcome based on the facts.
Carinity chief executive, Jon Campbell, is grateful to have the sanctions imposed on its Karinya Aged Care facility revoked.
Carinity chief executive, Jon Campbell, says the sanctions imposed on the organisation’s Karinya Aged Care facility in February caused unnecessary concern and distress to residents, staff and the Laidley community as well as reputational damage to Carinity and Queensland Baptists who have been providing quality aged care for 65 years in Queensland.
“Carinity has come through one of the most intensive auditing processes the aged care sector has ever seen, involving more than 50 auditors from across the country, following sensational coverage in The Australian which was based on numerous false allegations,” Mr Campbell claims.
“The sanctions wrongly imposed on Karinya have now been set aside and expunged from the public record by the government and all our aged care services remain accredited, having been recommended as fully meeting the quality standards,” he says.
According to Mr Campbell, it was stressed at the time that the allegations (which Carinity believes were made by a disgruntled employee) were unfounded, and the sanctions were unwarranted.
“The regulator has considered our submissions and agreed to set aside the sanctions with the result being that sanctions should never have been imposed. This result vindicates Carinity and we are pleased that commonsense has prevailed,” he says.
“Our people, systems and processes have been subjected to an unprecedented level of scrutiny and have now been shown to be doing exactly what they were designed to do – protect and enhance the quality of life for those in our care.
“This decision to overturn the sanction has given 'great heart' to the thousands of people Carinity care for every day, their families, the communities in which we operate and our dedicated Carinity employees, who provide constant care and compassion in their roles, most particularly those at our Karinya site.
“I am grateful to the many people who supported Carinity as it faced these allegations which we maintained from the outset were untrue and we have now been vindicated. We can now put this chapter behind us and focus our efforts on caring for those in need within our communities.”
