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Australia:
Elderly Face Grim Future
Melbourne - The
welfare of up to 100 elderly Melburnians is in doubt after four nursing
homes were placed in the hands of administrators this week. But
residents and their families -- some of them veterans of the kerosene bath
scandal -- face an agonising wait for certainty as administrators try to
sell the homes to government-approved operators. Staff
have also been left without pay and entitlements as a result of the
handover. Bruno
Secatore, spokesman for administrator Bentleys MRI, said the homes would
be sold. He
said residents and their families would be advised of the situation by
mail this week. But
Mr Secatore said the homes would continue to operate. "It's business
as usual," he said. "Our
primary concern is the health and safety of all the residents." The
appointment of administrators is the latest in a long line of hardship for
some of the homes' residents. About
18 of the elderly residents at Ripplebrook Village were residents of the
notorious Riverside Nursing Home which was shut down by the Federal
Government as a result of the kerosene-laced baths scandal in 2000. In
January this year, a federal government inspection found residents at
Ripplebrook Village did not receive appropriate clinical care and their
medication was not managed safely. The
Government renewed the home's accreditation for one year instead of the
usual three. Tangerine
Lodge was also subject to government sanctions this year after federal
inspectors found serious risks to the health and safety of residents
there. The
home, which only opened this year, was banned from taking new residents
for six months. Many
of the residents at Tangerine Lodge were moved there after Elsternwick
nursing home Abalene closed this year. Mr
Secatore expected a meeting of Tangerine Lodge residents and their
families to take place tonight. The
Australian Nurses Federation will also hold a meeting today to discuss
staff entitlements. ANF
state secretary Lisa Fitzpatrick said the organisation would take legal
action, if necessary, to protect the rights of staff. "It
just demonstrates how the accreditation process fails dismally," she
said. A
Department of Health and Ageing spokeswoman said the Government was
closely monitoring care at the homes. She
said the department had been assured that the homes would remain open. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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