Minister for Ageing confident nursing home abuse uncommon
|
|
TONY EASTLEY: Senator Santo Santoro is the new Minister for Ageing, and he joins AM now. Good morning, Senator, what’s your reaction to these claims of abuse and sexual abuse of four elderly women in a Victorian nursing home? SANTO SANTORO: Well, look, I watched the program obviously with great interest last night on Lateline, and I think like anybody else that would’ve been watching the program I was, you know, immediately concerned. This morning, very early, I contacted the agency, the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency, and asked them to go back to the nursing home and to do another sport check to be able to assure me, the residents and the public that in fact the best possible care is being provided to residents at that particular nursing home. TONY EASTLEY: Relatives of one of the women want to know why police checks weren’t carried out on the agency staff employed at the home? Is that normal to be done? SANTO SANTORO: Well, look, what I’m saying here is that what happened in terms of this particular incident on the 24th of November 2005, an anonymous complaint was made immediately to… as soon as the Department found out of that complaint we made contact with the CEO of the facility. More : abc.net.au |