The past few days have seen a barrage of negative media coverage for the aged care sector, particularly coming out of the Royal Commission’s Broome hearings.
Despite forming just 10 minutes of an hour-long testimony from a Southern Cross Care (WA) representative during Tuesday’s hearings, a ‘horror story’ about a 62-year-old resident’s family discovering maggots in her mouth made the headlines in many major news publications.
While disturbing and essential for the Commission to hear, this coverage also drowned out any real discussion of the issues facing aged care providers, Indigenous communities and consumers in remote Australia – the focus of the Broome process.
“Poor oral health” was a continued talking point across the week. The Sydney Morning Herald ran this piece about “fatal”, “mouldy” toothbrushes in residential aged care – complete with warnings around “rotten teeth, painful abscesses and undiagnosed mouth cancers” in residents living with dementia – linking to the Royal Commission’s isolated findings on poor oral health in some facilities.
The Canberra Times also released this article on sanctioned aged care homes across the city, specifically calling out Bupa’s Stirling facility specifically, which was sanctioned back in 2018 – but there was no information about any new sanctions in the piece.
With hearings being held in Perth until Friday, no doubt the negative stories will continue this week.
