Exploitation fears over South Australian Government aged care changes

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The state government has been accused of "trampling" on the rights of older people living with dementia in an attempt to free up public hospital beds. The concerns centre on new laws that make it easier for families to move their loved ones from hospital into aged care. But advocates fear they could leave patients vulnerable to exploitation.

Transcript

00:00Elderly dementia patients who don't want to go into aged care can now be fast-tracked under new state laws.

00:07What we've done is harmonise our laws with what's in place in other states.

00:12The laws were supported unanimously in Parliament last month.

00:15Legal guardians now have the power to detain their hospital patient in an aged care facility

00:20if they're deemed by a clinician to be at significant risk of harm to themselves or others.

00:25Under the old system, a family member had to apply for those powers in the civil tribunal.

00:30Now, SACAT doesn't have to review the case for up to six months.

00:34This change has alarmed aged care advocates.

00:37Some slimeball might be looking at this saying,

00:40oh, I can use this to get Mumma out of our house and sell the place.

00:46It appears to leave older people exposed and at risk.

00:52But the government says there's already enough protection.

00:54There's incredible oversight of the federal aged care system.

00:58Federal aged care has got more safeguards than ever before.

01:02The state government argues that delays in getting elderly hospital patients into aged care

01:07is a key contributor to ambulance ramping.

01:10It says these law changes will cut down on administrative hold-ups.

01:14But advocates warn that if the number of aged care beds doesn't increase,

01:17the problem won't go away.

01:19Even if you have that authority to have your mum put into an aged care facility,

01:26there are no places.

01:27An ongoing issue with no easy answers.

01:29An ongoing issue with no easy answers.

01:30An ongoing issue with no easy answers.

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