Latest news with #agedcare
SBS Australia
3 days ago
- General
- SBS Australia
After watching her live with dementia for 11 years, I'm relieved my mum's dead
Paula Brand cared for her mother in the final years of her life while also taking care of her daughter who has autism and ADHD. Source: Supplied With ageing parents living longer and children not leaving home, what's it like to be stuck in the middle? Watch Insight episode Sandwich Generation live on SBS On Demand . My mother died six months ago. I loved her but by the end, because of the dementia, I didn't like her. Her death was a relief. I'm also a single mother, raising my child who has autism and ADHD . To have some flexibility in my life, I run my own small business. I work six days a week, split shifts. I haven't had a relationship in 10 years. Every single emotion has been flattened. I have been squeezed so much, there's nothing left. My time is squeezed. My patience is squeezed. My love is squeezed. Caring for my mother on top of caring for my child for the last six years made my life a shit sandwich. I'm not a natural nurturer, so taking on a carer's role with my mother was very difficult. She both created and was positioned in difficult situations that made everything all the harder. She ran away from the aged care centre she was living in and got together with a man who she claims ended up stealing money from her. She also had to endure COVID-19 lockdowns while in aged care . I visited my mother every fortnight, which doesn't seem much. Though, after coping with her dementia for 11 years — and having the same conversations again and again about her boyfriend — my patience and love thinned. Dementia is hard on family members and "loving trips down memory lane" experiences are very rare. I found mum's aged care centre drab and dreary. It smelled horribly of chemicals, urine and death. When you get one day off a week, it's not the place you want to spend time. You force yourself to visit. To this day, I remember the stench. My daughter refused to step foot in the door as the smell was too much. In my caring of my mother, I had to also balance and prioritise the needs of my child. As a parent, my job is to keep my vulnerable child safe. Unfortunately, my daughter suffered from consistent bullying for over a year at school. Dealing with my daughter's bullying situation, my mum dying, being a single mum and running a business while in my late 50s, was overwhelming. In the end, we can all only do the best we can do, but was I loving enough to my mother? Probably not. Some people talk about this glorious moment of seeing their loved one's last breath while holding their hand. But I wasn't with my mum when she died. I decided not to be. I had to make the choice of who needs me more. I hadn't really seen my daughter for three days and she needed me. I don't think anyone should die alone but I had said my goodbyes to my mother. Though, sometimes I do find myself hoping she didn't miss me not being there. Dementia is the longest death, and in my mother's case, it was drawn out over 11 years. It was exhausting, depressing, lonely and extremely frustrating. I was her guardian for health, accommodation, medication. Every single part of her life, I was responsible. Because of that, I never felt like a daughter again. My role as her daughter ended years ago and I grieved it then. Seeing my mother's health and mind deteriorate over a decade made me realise I will not be going into aged care. If I do end up getting dementia, for me, the decision to continue living or not, will be a very difficult one. I don't think I would choose to have that life. I would not want to be a burden for my daughter, who is going to struggle through life anyway. But for now, the burden has been lifted and I'm in an era of freedom. I bought a campervan and have taken my daughter on road trips, and we've gone on overseas holidays to Bali and Thailand. We are reconnecting after I had to have split focus, taking care of my dying mother. It may sound horrible, but now that my mum is dead, I finally — at the age of 56 — get to have a life. Readers seeking confidential information and support on dementia can contact the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500. Carer Gateway is an Australian government program providing free services and support for carers and can be contacted on 1800 422 737.
BreakingNews.ie
4 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Up to 6,800 new inpatient beds may be needed by 2040, report finds
Public acute hospitals will need to increase inpatient bed capacity by between 40 per cent and 60 per cent by 2040, according to a new report. A continued increase in population, particularly at older ages, will drive the increased demand, according to the Economic and Social Research Institute publication on Wednesday. Advertisement Ireland's population is projected to increase from 5.3 million in 2023 to between 5.9-6.3 million by 2040, with the range reflecting differing assumptions on future migration trends. The number of people aged 65 years and over will increase from 1 in 7 of the population in 2023 to 1 in 5 by 2040. This age group are particularly high users of hospital services, accounting for over 60% of inpatient bed days in 2023. The Department of Health-funded research projects that emergency department attendances will grow from 1.6 million to more than two million by 2040. Advertisement Outpatient department attendances are projected to grow from 4.6 million in 2023, to between 5.5 and 5.9 million by 2040. Day patient discharges are projected to grow from 1.2 million in 2023, to between 1.5 and 1.6 million. Inpatient discharges are projected to grow from 650,000 to up to 900,000. Inpatient bed days are projected to increase from 3.9 million in 2023, to between 5.1 and 6.0 million in 2040. Advertisement The ESRI research states that there will be a requirements for an additional 650 to 950 day patient beds by 2040 – a growth of between 25-37 per cent. The report said continued increase in population, particularly at older ages, will drive the increased demand (Jeff Moore/PA) In addition, it projects a requirement for between 4,400 to 6,800 inpatient beds – an increase of between 40 per cent and 60 per cent. Even at the lower end of the projections, the report highlights the need for substantial additional capacity to meet increases in demand for hospital services by 2040. The analysis shows how different policy choices like reducing inpatient length of stay and waiting list management can alter the projections. Advertisement Dr Aoife Brick, senior research officer at the ESRI and lead author of the report, said: 'Our findings highlight significant future growth in demand for public acute hospital services, driven primarily by population growth and ageing. The report offers policymakers evidence on the scale of service expansion needed to meet future demand.' Ireland Government to draft Bill to ban trade with illegal... Read More Minister for Health, Jennifer Carroll MacNeill welcomed the review and said: 'This evidence base is crucial for future planning, ensuring we have the facilities to provide the best care to patients. 'Increasing bed numbers and the necessary resources and workforce requires careful long-term planning.' The Programme for Government has committed to delivering thousands more beds through the acute bed capacity expansion plan, new surgical hubs and elective treatment centres. Advertisement
News.com.au
6 days ago
- Business
- News.com.au
Elderly Australians to pay more for aged care homes under Labor's new tax law
Clarity Aged Care Advisors Principal Michael Horin discusses the implications of Labor's proposed tax on unrealised capital gains for self-funded retirees. From July 1, many self-funded retirees will pay more for aged care, between $20,000 and $50,000, depending on their accommodation. 'The premise is that aged care in Australia is not a profitable industry,' Mr Horin told Sky News Business Editor Ross Greenwood. 'The government wants aged care to become more profitable to encourage more investment in the sector to match the growing demand of the aging population that we have.'
RNZ News
7 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
'Left in her chair covered in faeces' - widespread failures at resthome
The resthome says it has worked to address the issues raised in the report. File photo Photo: There were widespread failures at a Geraldine resthome which did not properly care for three women, the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) has found. The HDC report followed three separate complaints about the standard of care the women received from McKenzie Healthcare Limited between 2020 and 2022. The resthome said it had worked to address the issues and improve quality and consistency. Known in the report as Mrs A, Mrs E and Mrs F, the report found the resthome left one of them covered in faeces and another in a soiled bed in Covid isolation. She later died while still in isolation. The commissioner found McKenzie Healthcare in breach of Rights and the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights for all three women. The HDC found that between 2021 and 2022 there was a significant turnover of multiple staff at a frontline and management level, including five general managers. The current general manager stepped into the role despite having no previous knowledge of New Zealand's aged-care systems, and did not receive a formal orientation for the job. Aged Care Commissioner Carolyn Cooper said after carefully reviewing all the information she considered that "McKenzie Healthcare did not provide a reasonable standard of care for the three consumers". "I consider that the care provided in each case demonstrated a system-level failure. There was a consistent pattern of poor care for multiple consumers, and inadequate organisational systems to support staff in providing effective care. "In my opinion, this resulted from a lack of robust leadership, a lack of strategic direction, and poor clinical oversight. This had a cascading effect on healthcare delivery and resulted in a failure to provide appropriate care and assistance to McKenzie Healthcare staff and residents," said Cooper. Current clinical general manager Jo Fenton told RNZ in a statement the report had been taken on board. "We acknowledge and accept the findings of the Health and Disability Commissioner's report. Since then, we have been working diligently to address the issues raised and to improve the quality and consistency of our service delivery," she said. Mrs A was a 67-year-old woman with multiple comorbidities, including type two diabetes which required insulin, a stomach hernia, and a previous stroke. She was legally blind and had two stomas, and was also prone to recurrent urinary tract infections. Although a long-term care plan (LTCP) identified that Mrs A needed full assistance with hygiene and toileting, with her stoma bags to be checked and changed at least twice a week - she had several "blow outs" and was "left in her chair or bed covered in faeces". This led to her stoma becoming infected, and she was banned from using the shared toileting facilities - leaving her in "total isolation". The report also stated that Mrs A was left in her soiled clothes for extended periods, and the lack of help from staff led her to discharge herself from McKenzie Healthcare. The investigation found no evidence of a short-term care plan when Mrs A suffered gastroenteritis and was put in isolation, and no formal training for staff around infection control. It stated that "she was unable to be showered even after being soiled with faeces due to blow-out of the colostomy bag. She was made to wait until staff were available to shower her and clean up afterwards. This furthered her feelings of social isolation and emotional distress," the report said. The daughter of Mrs E complained about her care during a Covid-19 outbreak in 2022, and says she passed away after a long period of isolation when she received little attention and assistance. The 98-year-old was admitted to McKenzie Healthcare in 2020 for hospital-level care, and had a history of glaucoma, dementia with marked short-term memory loss, visual impairment, frailty, gluten intolerance, malignant melanoma, osteoarthritis, and hearing impairment. When she tested positive for Covid-19 in 2022, Mrs E was placed in isolation for 16 days and was still isolated when she died. The investigation found no reason for her extended isolation. "No rationale for this extended isolation was documented, and there is no evidence that an assessment was completed at the 7- or 10-day point to assess whether continuing isolation was necessary," said the commissioner. The resthome told the HDC that other than a low grade fever, Mrs E did not have any other Covid-19 symptoms. When her granddaughters visited her, they found Mrs E "lying curled up in a soiled bed with matted hair, and dry and scaly skin, and it appeared that she had not been moved for some time". The family said her dentures had not been fitted so she could not eat, there was no straw for her to drink fluids with, and she had been complaining of hunger. "When Mrs E's family challenged staff about their lack of attention to Mrs E, staff responded that it was difficult to continually don their PPE and therefore, frequent visits and checks had been avoided," the report stated. McKenzie Healthcare reviewed their care of Mrs E, and found trends of poor communication and documentation, no records of staff training on fluid and food recordings, no activities for Mrs E in isolation, no liaison with GPs and no end of life management was implemented. The third complaint was made by the daughter of Mrs F, who was concerned that staff at the resthome took too long to answer the call bell because of "poor staffing and a bad work culture". Mrs F was a 79-year-old woman who was transferred from McKenzie Village to McKenzie Healthcare for hospital-level care because of a decline in her health and ability to manage the activities of daily living. She had poor mobility and required full assistance with all personal care - including toileting and incontinence as she needed to urinate four to five times overnight. She also had chronic kidney disease, congestive heart failure and lethargy. Staff told HDC that Mrs F had a fluctuating mood, and she became tearful and screamed when left alone for more than 10 minutes. They said she became verbally aggressive towards healthcare assistants, and frequently complained about elder abuse. This made them anxious about attending Mrs F alone, which potentially delayed their response to the call-bell. Mrs F's daughter told the HDC that it took one to 1.5 hours for the call-bell to be answered, leading to "her dignity being taken away". The call-bell system is run remotely by a third party, and rest home residents are given a pager for the caregiver assigned to that room. After a family meeting about the delay, a registered nurse pager was given to Mrs F to use when call-bells were not answered. "No minutes were provided for this meeting, and there is no evidence of the corrective action plans or investigations undertaken into the complaint," the report said. McKenzie Healthcare acknowledged that extended call-bell response times may have been due to staff attending to other residents. It apologised for this and stated that there was no excuse for not checking on Mrs F. The investigation also found problems with the care of Mrs F's incontinence. "It appears from the documentation that information was recorded inconsistently on the forms. Some days recorded only one episode of urine being passed, while on other days there were no entries," the report said. The commissioner recognised the resthome had made significant changes since 2022, and made a number of recommendations to McKenzie Healthcare. The recommendations include: Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
ABC News
20-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Tasmanian pharmacists to treat more conditions with expanded scope of practice
From next year, Tasmanians will be able to head to their local pharmacists for more conditions, in a move the state government hopes will take pressure off GPs and hospitals. $5 million from next week's state budget will be set aside to offer pharmacists training in treating conditions such as ear infections, reflux, skin conditions like shingles and eczema, rhinitis and wound care. The funding will also support a new pilot project partnering pharmacists with GPs to prescribe medications in residential aged care. But expanding the scope of practice for pharmacists has been met with backlash from the doctor sector — as happened when the Northern Territory and Queensland adopted the program. Mental Health and Wellbeing Minister Roger Jaensch said pharmacists were currently an "under-utilised resource" and subsidised training of between 12 and 18 months would allow pharmacists "full scope of practice credentials". "Our pharmacists are trusted frontline health professionals and medication experts in our communities," Mr Jaensch said. The extra training builds upon an existing program which expanded credentials for some Tasmanian pharmacists last year. In an Australian first, those pharmacists became able to treat uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and administer the oral contraceptive pill for an extra 12 months when a prescription expires. Mr Jaensch said the government would learn from other states and "work towards national harmonisations of a wider range of treatments that our pharmacies can deliver". "Those that are ahead of us now are reviewing their progress; we'll learn from their progress," Mr Jaensch said. Launceston pharmacist Jason Martin said customers presented "daily" with conditions which he and other pharmacists would be able to treat if they had full-scope credentials. "With immunisations as an example … and during COVID-19 too, we've shown we've had capacity to grow and to take on additional healthcare services and meet the healthcare demand," Mr Martin said. Mr Martin, who is also a Pharmacy Guild member, believed the opportunity to upskill would also boost workforce retention for pharmacists. Expanding the scope of practice, he said, would hopefully entice graduates to stay in Tasmania, rather than move to states where such opportunities were already in place or becoming available. Tasmania's Pharmaceutical Society of Australia also welcomed the training, with state manager Ella Van Tienen saying the sector was "able and willing to do more". "We believe for a range of conditions we need a 'no wrong door' policy so that consumers are able to access healthcare in the environment they choose to do in a timely and accessible manner," Ms Van Tienen said. Tasmania's Australian Medical Association said the pilot "misses the mark and worse, puts patient care at risk". President Michael Lumsden-Steel said while pharmacists were an "important part of the patient care team", they "are not doctors". Dr Lumsden-Steele said many medical conditions shared similar symptoms, and that this pilot would result in "further care fragmentation". "It takes years of study and experience to ascertain the difference between acid reflux and gallstones. Dr Lumsden-Steel said a better use of funds would be opening more training positions in general practice and increasing Medicare rebates for longer consultations. Professional Pharmacists Australia said they welcomed the funding, but said it must come alongside additional support for "already overstretched" pharmacists to help manage the additional workload and responsibilities. "The scope of pharmacy practice is changing, but so too must the pay, protections, and professional standards that underpin it." Mr Jaensch said renumeration for pharmacists working in community pharmacies "remains the responsibility of their employer". He said he acknowledged the comments of the AMA, but that the measure had been taken "so we can relieve pressure on our GPs and hospitals".
