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The Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency has released a report on Melbourne’s beleaguered Bridgewater facility showing significant cases of non-compliance.
The audit which was completed in May – just days after the home went into administration – shows that Bridgewater did not meet 18 of the 44 expected outcomes.
Areas of non-compliance in the home, which was then run by Vitality Care, included clinical care, regulatory compliance and continuous improvement.
The home’s accreditation period has been brought back from August next year to 16 December.
“The shortened period of accreditation provides an incentive for the home to ensure all expected outcomes are compliant in the shortest possible time, and that improvements in care for residents are consolidated and sustained,” said the agency’s report.
Last month the Commonwealth Government appointed Uniting Aged Care to run Bridgewater on a temporary basis while the administrators attempt to find a purchaser for the facility.
The Minister for Ageing has issued a statement stating that the agency and the Department of Health and Ageing will continue to monitor the home.
“The welfare and care of the residents is our primary concern. I am also concerned to ensure that staff are supported and looked after,” she said.
“That is why we are working with Uniting Aged Care to ensure that residents of Bridgewater continue to receive the high standard of care they deserve.”
“The engagement of Uniting Aged Care will also benefit the employees of Bridgewater who will be able to continue to deliver quality aged care confident that their salary, wages and other employee entitlements will continue to be met.
If the administrators are unable to achieve a sale, the residents would have to be re-located to other facilities.
But one of the administrators said the facility’s unusual set-up and current market conditions were making it difficult to reach a deal.
“It’s a complex situation because Bridgewater is a strata title facility, rather like an apartment block, so there are 45 to 50 different stakeholders that need to agree on all the conditions,” said Stephen Longley from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
“And the current economic climate isn’t as good as it was 12 months ago so obviously everyone is focused on their financial returns.”
A meeting of creditors will be held no later than 5 September.
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