Nursing home residents are being overdosed with high-risk medicines or given the wrong drugs at the wrong times by underqualified staff, a Senate inquiry established in the wake of the Oakden scandal has been told. Regulators and health professionals have warned that many residents of aged care homes are afraid to complain and that staff in some facilities have asked for residents to be sedated so that they will be easier to manage. Federal Aged Care Complaints Commissioner Rae Lamb said her office received 589 complaints in 2016 about medication administration and management. The complaints were mainly about the wrong medicines or incorrect doses being given, doses being missed or an incorrect method being used to administer drugs. “Complaints show there can be inconsistency in the skill levels of staff who administer medicine in aged care facilities,’’ Ms Lamb told the Senate community affairs committee.
