The Royal Commission into Aged Care declared older people and their families were left “isolated and powerless”. COVID-19 has provided a tragic real-time vindication of the commission’s observation.
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.
In a study of people receiving community care, home modifications liberated them to live at home safely and independently. Hours of care were cut by 42% and quality of life improved by 40%.
Rest homes have been hit hard by COVID-19 deaths and inquiries are looking at possible changes to care. The elephant in the room is that quality care depends on more staff.
The draft visitor access code for aged care balances residents’ rights to see their family with the need to keep coronavirus under control. But the changes will require more staff time to implement.
For many people living in residential aged care, their priority is quality of life, not length of life. So how do we reconcile this with the need to restrict visitors during the coronavirus pandemic?
Government policies and nursing home operators will need to navigate a delicate balance: how to protect older people from COVID-19 while maintaining their rights to social engagement.
We took a close look at breaches of aged care standards in 2019 to see what effect the new aged care standards are having, and where aged care providers are falling short.
We interviewed older gay men, lesbian women, and trans women about their perceptions of residential aged care. Our research shows we need to make aged care safer for LGBTI+ people.
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.
From mass climate change movements to cultural genocide of Uighurs in China, here are some of the headline human rights moments that captured Australia’s attention.
Doctors will have to justify prescribing the antipsychotic drug risperidone for longer than 12 weeks. But that won’t fix the problem of using drugs to manage aged care residents’ behaviour.
Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne