Co As It Community Services Inc has a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) with which it must deal before Commission Booth in his Brisbane chambers (McMahon).
April 3, 2019
Minda Incorporated is facing a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) before Fair Work Commissioner Platt in his Adelaide chambers (Constantine).
April 2, 2019
HSS Home Support Services has a s.372 (Application to deal with other contravention disputes) to answer before Fair Work Deputy President Anderson in his Adelaide chambers (Nickel).
April 2, 2019
Bendigo Bank has presented a cheque for $6,100 to Fitzgerald Aged Care Windsor to put towards specialised tilt-in-space shower commodes for residents.
April 2, 2019
A State Government aged care home in South Australia’s Mid North region has been sanctioned after the death of a resident following a fire. A Federal Government Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) audit of the Ira Parker Nursing Home at Balaklava, almost 100 kilometres north of Adelaide, found it failed in 19 of 44 accreditation outcomes — including building safety, patient pain management and nutrition. The Federal Department of Health imposed two sanctions on the home, including restricting the payment of the Commonwealth aged care subsidy for new residents and revoking the home’s aged care provider status unless evidence of improvement is made within six months.
April 2, 2019
A former nurse who assaulted an elderly disabled patient, shaking her head, poking her in the ribs and pulling her nose, has been publicly reprimanded by a tribunal. Trica Anne Carter, an enrolled nurse from 2001 until she surrendered her registration in 2017, worked at a Blue Care aged care facility from December, 2013, until June, 2016. On May 1, 2016, Carter was caring for a patient, 72, who was confined to a wheelchair after a stroke. Carter shook the patient’s head from side to side or front to back very quickly, poked her ribs and pulled her nose, Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal heard. As a result, her employment was terminated and since then she has not worked as an enrolled nurse. Carter later was charged and pleaded guilty to serious assault of a person over 60. She was fined $750, with no conviction recorded. The tribunal found Carter’s behaviour towards the patient constituted professional misconduct, but accepted she had since demonstrated insight and remorse. She has not practised nursing since May, 2016, and is now studying in a different field. The tribunal said it was unlikely she would return to the health profession. The Health Ombudsman, who brought disciplinary proceedings against Carter, agreed that she had been effectively excluded from her profession for more than two years as a result of her conduct. It was decided there should be no further period of preclusion from reapplying for registration and the tribunal ordered Carter be reprimanded for professional misconduct.
April 2, 2019
A woman has been accused of deliberately putting spicy food in the meal of an elderly man while working as a caretaker at an aged-care facility. Kyra Johnson, 30, was arrested by police, following reports she fed an 81-year-old with dementia jalapeño peppers, despite her knowledge he was not accustomed to eating spicy food. Employees at the Village on the Park retirement home allegedly saw Ms Johnson “chop up and place a jalapeño pepper” in a portion of the man’s eggs and feeding them to him, even though he did not require assistance eating. Witnesses reportedly told police they saw the victim “fanning and gasping for air to cool his mouth” after unknowingly eating the jalapeño peppers. Employees alleged it was Ms Johnson’s intention to cause the man pain and suffering. A witness reportedly said: “I hope that is not hot” prior to the meal being served, with Ms Johnson allegedly replying: “I hope it is”. The man reportedly relied on help from employees in the memory care unit. Ms Johnson, who no longer works at the aged-care unit, was arrested and charged with abuse by a caretaker.
April 2, 2019
A Sydney man is seeking more than half a million dollars in damages from the NSW Government for maliciously prosecuting a false rape claim made against him by his North Shore paediatrician wife. A jury acquitted the man, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, of rape, domestic violence, assault and other charges in 2017 after Sydney District Court Judge Mark Williams issued a rare Prasad direction. A Prasad direction allows a jury to find a defendant not guilty any time after the close of the Crown in cases where there is insufficient evidence to justify a conviction. On legal advice, the man had pleaded guilty to two counts of domestic violence — relating to an email and damage to his then-wife’s mobile phone (after discovering explicit text messages between her and another man) but the judge dismissed those charges without recording a conviction. The man spent 32 days in jail on remand, an “extraordinarily difficult” experience given he had no criminal record and one that continues to haunt him to this day. “I was never far from ending it all after my release from prison,” he told news.com.au yesterday. “The actions of police were so deliberate and savage that it made me doubt everything.” The judge slammed the case against the man as “most unsatisfactory” and said prosecutors had failed to take into account “cogent and consistent objective evidence” that backed up the man’s claim that the sexual encounter at the heart of the rape charge was in fact consensual. Defence lawyer Greg Walsh told the court the man and his legal team took photographic evidence that corroborated his story and discredited hers to the police, but it was ignored. “Was it ideological, was it wilful blindness? I don’t know,” Mr Walsh said. “All the evidence pointed to the fact that this was an innocent man who should not have been charged.”
