The intense questioning of Andrew Sudholz at the Royal Commission (see the story above) led to the unfortunate conclusion by Senior Counsel Assisting Peter Rozen QC that private operators of aged care homes are profit/corporate results-focused rather than resident/customer-focused.

This was taken up and emphasised by Dr Lisa Trigg (pictured), an expert witness flown out from the UK by the Commission. She simply stated:

“For me, that’s the problem. The – you’re not the most important person in the room, and if you don’t recognise that the most important people in the room are the residents and the relatives and the people who work with them every day, then you have completely missed the point.”

Advocacy groups, the media, regulators and perhaps Not For Profits seeking leverage now have an official reference point to argue NFPs provide real person centred care as their No 1 priority and should government funds be given to private operators – the argument of the Australian Nurses & Midwifery Federation (ANMF) for the past two years.

Big village and aged care operators take note.