Two residents at Warrigal Warilla “died in distress, with unrelieved pain and discomfort” according to a damning report released this week. Dementia patients were also observed wandering aimlessly and calling out “with no meaningful lifestyle interventions” during a five-day audit of the facility by a Federal Government agency in January. Meantime the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission detailed numerous reports of care recipients being found in wet beds, as well as others roving the home at night and entering other residents’ bedrooms. The unannounced audit was undertaken soon after a 48-year-old female worker was charged over alleged assaults of five elderly residents at the home. Shakuntala Mudaliar, who was immediately stood down, will defend the charges at a hearing set down for Wollongong court in November. The Federal health department slapped sanctions on the Arcadia Street facility immediately after the audit, citing an “immediate and severe risk to the health, safety and well-being of care recipients”. This week the Commission publicly released its full audit report, which revealed the Warilla facility met just 24 of the 44 national standards of care. Many of the failures were within the vital area of health and personal care where 13 of 17 needs went unmet; including medication and pain management. “The home’s monitoring system does not identify errors related to medication administration,” the report stated. “… Pain is not assessed or monitored to develop strategies for management of care recipients experiencing pain.” Nutrition and hydration, and skin care were other areas of concern, with “significant gaps in wound care provision” identified. “Injuries in the form of skin tears and bruising are not monitored and evaluated to minimise recurrence,” the report stated.
