Department criticised for ignoring GP advice
The Department of Health and Ageing has been rapped by a tribunal for ignoring the opinion of GPs and imposing severe restrictions on a Queensland nursing home after concerns about residents’ weight loss were raised.
Assessors from the Aged Care Accreditation Agency imposed tough sanctions on the Mareeba Garden nursing home in 2008, following an unannounced visit which they said inadequate nutrition and hydration and unexplained weight loss represented “immediate and severe risk” to residents.
At the time, the Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliot, said she made “no apologies” for the action, and that it was about “the protection and the welfare of frail and aged Australians”.
But an Administrative Appeals Tribunal has ruled that the department acted too hastily against the nursing home, and the nutrition problems “were far less concerning, or not at all concerning” than were originally thought.
