Aged Care Complaints in Australia: A Case Study to Improve the Aged Care Facility

Running head: AGED CARE
Aged Care Complaints in Australia: A case study to improve the aged care facility
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1
AGED CARE
Statement of problem
In Australia, the aged care system bestows a wide range of options in order to meet
the care needs of the aged population residing in Australia (King et al., 2013). The urge of the
majority of older population in Australia to stay in their own homes as they age has increased
the focus on the procurement of care under the community settings (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2018). However, according to the reports published by Aged and
Community Services Australia (ACSA) (2018), revealed that the quality of the aged care in
Australia has dropped to a considerable amount. According to their statistics, there are 3205
complaints were logged during July to December (2017) in comparison to 2,996 between July
(2016) to June (2017). The top five outcomes which are not assessed as highlighted by ACSA
include medication management, human resource management, clinical care, behavioural
management and living environment. Moreover, reports published by Bernoth et al. (2014)
revealed that the healthcare providers lacks proper policies for information management in
the grounds of confidentiality and this leads to bridging of ethical parameters and thereby
generating unrest. Reports published by Baldwin et al. (2015) revealed that there is a high
level of quality failure observed in the residential aged care in Australia. The quality failure is
mostly occurring due to the lack of trained nurses and poor wages in Australian aged care
facility (Grealish, 2012; Palmer & Eveline, 2012). Roche et al (2015) highlight high turnover
rate of nurses in aged care as the reason behind quality failure. High nurses turnover rate
signifies lack of trained or adequate nurse force and this again increases the work load on the
existing nurses and thereby forcing them to quit their job (Karantzas et al., 2012). Bismark et
al. (2013) highlighted there is a specific group of untrained doctors against whom the
majority of the complaints is lodged from the aged care population and this decreasing the
quality of care.

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AGED CARE
There are numerous problems that have been highlighted against the drop in the
quality of care in the aged care facility of Australia but there is no comprehensive analysis of
the reason. Furthermore, a comprehensive analysis will help to increase the quality of care in
the aged care facility (Silvester et al, 2012).
Research aim and objective
The aim of the research is to investigate the underlying reason behind the drop in the
quality of care in the aged care facility in Australia. The main objectives of the research
include
 Lack of trained nurse and its relation of aged care facility
 High turn-over rate among the nurses and is impact on aged care facility
 How a specific group of untrained doctors is affecting the quality of aged care
 Recommendation for the improvement of the aged care in Australia
Methodology
To properly access the variable affecting the quality of care in aged facility in
Australia, this study will follow the path of mixed methodology.
Secondary Data: In order to collect the secondary data, review of literature will be
performed and this will help to access the current issue affecting the aged care in Australia.
Literature review will be performed via academic journals, government websites and other
relevant publicly available reports.
Primary data: Primary data will be collected from the care givers and the service
consumers of the aged care facility in Australia (Melbourne) via conducting face to face
interview with both open and close ended questionnaire.