Subject Code : BMA735
Assessment Task:
BMA735: Management Ethics Assessment Answer

Case study 3
Bupa Seaforth (Daily Telegraph, October 3, 2018 and 10 Daily, September 17, 2018) The spotlight has turned to the nation's aged care system in recent months, with a spate of ugly and criminal incidents targeting the elderly or invalid. New government statistics show a 177 per cent increase in the number of aged care homes where a serious risk to residents was identified in the last financial year, and a 292 per cent increase in the number of facilities that refused to comply with rules. Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently announced plans for a royal commission into the aged care industry after an aged care scandal was revealed at Bupa’s Aged Care Home at the beach?side suburb of Seaforth in northern Sydney.

Bupa was established in the UK in 1947 as the not?for?profit British United Provident Association. In 2007, Bupa created what is now Australia's largest private health insurance group, with 3.98 million lives covered, after merging with HBA, MBF and Mutual Community. Bupa has recently diversified away from its core health insurance business and is now an international healthcare company with services that include travel insurance, health insurance, care homes, expatriate insurance, health assessments, occupational health services and hospitals. Bupa Aged Care is one of Australia’s leading residential aged care providers with more than 70 care homes across the country.

Bupa Seaforth opened in October 2016 but its federal government funding has been suspended for new residents for six months due to its poor performance. Relatives of
residents at the scandal?plagued beachside aged care home labelled the conditions at the exclusive Bupa Seaforth as “horrendous”. One staff member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the home was a “disgrace”, blaming poor pay and being constantly short-staffed. The northern beaches facility failed to meet more than 30 of 44 basic care standards, including staffing levels, medication and pain management, and even clinical care. The government found there was an “immediate and severe risk to the health, safety or well being” of care recipients. It put the home on a strict six?month improvement plan, with a warning that if it doesn’t shape up it faces being shut down.

Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said incidents such as this were of the “utmost concern”, adding the royal commission into the aged care sector would help ensure better standards in the future. Just last year the home was given the green light to operate for another three years after passing a regular audit without a hitch. The snap audit was prompted by the alleged abuse of resident David Nabulsi by a staff member. The 82?year?old was allegedly bashed with a shoe and roughed up in a shocking incident captured on a secret video camera his daughter had installed after suspecting something was wrong. Police arrested and charged a 35?year?old Hornsby man over the incident. Bupa said it was "shocked and saddened" by the allegations, and that the employee had been dismissed. At a fiery meeting last Friday, Bupa management is also understood to have been told by the families of elderly residents they were seriously concerned about the possibility of further staff assaults on patients. Greg Stockley, whose mother Lorna, 84, has lived at the home for almost two years, described the conditions as “horrendous” and said his mother was often given other people’s medication or none at all. “The food is like pig slop. There was shepherd’s pie I wouldn’t feed to my dogs,” he said. Mr Nabulsi’s daughter Ayda Celine said her father had gone days without being showered and she once had to badger staff for a week before his nails were cut. A staff member said residents could be left at the meal table for more than an hour after eating as there weren’t enough staff to help them back to their rooms and when they needed help they were often forced to wait more than 20 minutes.

Kristina Shepherd's father George was in the Bupa Seaforth aged care home for just 21 days before she pulled him out. Despite paying a "motza" to get him in the shiny new facility, within spitting distance of Peach Tree Bay on Sydney's north shore, Shepherd cut ties with the home after just three weeks. She claimed her father had been left unwashed in soiled clothing for hours at a time, that his bathroom floor had been left uncleaned and covered in faeces, and as well that there were lax procedures around medication and care. "The expectation was that if we paid the top level of price for this product, we must be getting the best. You think they must have so much money to splash on what they need, but it’s so far from the truth. If I had a message to people, it's to not think that if you're paying more, you're getting more. You might not even get the basics."

Shepherd outlined her claims in a letter to Bupa management on September 7, days after charges were laid against the former Seaforth employee. She said she was "not surprised" by the allegations made, and called Seaforth "an absolute mess". "It was very expensive and newly opened, it presented really well. Dad ended up being there only after 21 days, because when we got in there, we very quickly noticed not all was as it seemed. It was really below par in many ways".

She claimed family had found her father's room dirty and messy on the day they moved in, and things didn't get better after that. "We repeatedly found him unwashed and unshaven, sitting in wet clothes," Shepherd said. "With his Alzheimer's, he had just started having issues with faecal incontinence... One day I got in, shortly into his stay, and there was faeces on the floor in the bathroom. I spent an hour trying to get a cleaner, and eventually a care worker just got a paper towel and wiped it and put it into a basket." Shepherd claimed her father wasn't offered any activities ?? "he just sat in his room" ?? and that staff were not attentive. "The care manager was just woeful. She ran in and put his medication on the table and walked out," she said. "There were so few staff, it was really alarming. You would wander the corridors for ages and not see anyone."

In a statement, a Bupa spokesperson said the company had apologised to the family. "We understand and appreciate how much trust families place on our services. Mrs Shepherd’s concerns have been taken seriously, and Bupa’s Chief Medical Officer has recently spoken with the family," the spokesperson said. "Recent events have shown we sometimes fail to live up to the high standards we set, and we are committed to addressing this." The company said an "external expert" would review events at the Seaforth facility, which Bupa admitted were "shocking". An independent consumer expert will also make recommendations for improvements across the company's care network. Carolyn Cooper, Chief Operating Officer of Bupa Aged Care, said they had made a number of changes and have hired a new and experienced leadership team, led by Tonia Fridlis, a new General Manager.

 

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  • Posted on : December 03rd, 2018

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