Every time a new aged-care scandal breaks, trust and confidence in the entire system of care is diminished. How can anyone have peace of mind when they hear of the neglect or abuse of frail people in residential care? After all, any one of us might need full-time care at some future date?...

In order to develop trust, we first need honesty and transparency. We need to know and understand the system and to be sure it is working in the interests of the frail-aged people it is meant to serve.

Currently, the community relies on both the Department of Health and Ageing and the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency to inspire this trust – through setting standards, the management of inspections, the on-going monitoring of facilities and the reporting back to the community.

Yet, too often, these processes fail to provide the trust and confidence we seek. Why? Because when it is shown, time and time again, that there is a lack of transparency and honesty in the processes of accrediting, monitoring and reporting, we cannot have the necessary belief in the system.

For example, let us examine how the accreditation reports of aged-care facilities are made available to the public. Here are two cases.

Case 1:

Warley Nursing Home in Victoria failed 23 of the 44 mandatory care standards when it was audited last November. Yet the report of the audit was only made available to the public five months later!

Surely the local community which depends on this nursing home for the care of its frail citizens should not have to wait for five months to learn about its strengths and failings? Whose interests are served by this delay?

Local people should also know the reasons why sanctions were not applied, even though the facility was warned last November that "it did not have systems in place to ensure it was complying with the law".

Case 2:

Bartonvale Nursing Home in South Australia failed 27 of the 44 mandatory standards when it was inspected in November last year. The report, outlining the disgraceful conditions suffered by the 78 high-care residents, detailed the following problems:

• Did family members and the local community know in November that accreditors found residents to be at serious risk in the areas of clinical care, pain management, skin care, privacy and dignity?
• Were they aware that residents were regularly left in urine soaked beds until late in the morning, and all the other worrying matters raised in the report?
• Did others in the area, who were seeking a placement for a loved family member, know about the situation at Bartonvale?
• if not, why not?

When reports of our funded facilities are not made public, it is easy to believe that there is much to hide. What else is happening in these homes? And the media reports alleging abuse and neglect then become even more frightening.

Senator Santoro, you have vowed to ensure that our vulnerable elders are well looked after. We thank you for that. But until the community can be assured that the agencies that are meant to work for us are telling us straight, the community will remain skeptical and those awful media reports will continue to frighten the hell out of us all.