Staff in nursing home use body parts in guess who game

link

EXCLUSIVE: THREE people have resigned from a nursing home near Geelong after photos of residents’ body parts were used in a sickening “guess who” game at a private party.

Pictures taken at Ann Nichol House, in Portarlington, were used in a game played at a farewell party for a member of staff attended by about a dozen people at a local golf club earlier this month.

Sources told the Herald Sun about 30 hostel residents had agreed to let staff photograph their colostomy bags and body parts such as arms, legs, toes and knees for what they were told was a “scientific project”.

Appalled staff who heard about the party game complained to hostel management who counselled those involved but decided against telling residents and their families what had occurred.

The Federal Department of Health and Ageing, which regulates the aged care industry, will today launch an investigation into the incident.

“We take these allegations very seriously and an investigator will be sent to the home tomorrow,” spokeswoman Kay McNiece said yesterday.

The 60-bed Ann Nichol hostel, which has a 20-bed dementia wing, is run by Bellarine Community Health.

Bellarine Community Health CEO John Fendyk yesterday said management had decided not to inform residents that the photos had been misused because it did not want to upset them.

“We wanted to deal with the issue internally,” he said.

Mr Fendyk said the staff involved had been counselled about their responsibilities to residents and several had chosen to resign.

He said the vast majority of staff at the facility were highly professional and described the incident as a one-off.

“We don’t believe there was any excuse for what occurred,” he said.

“This was a silly issue that a number of staff didn’t appreciate.”

Lynda Saltarelli, who runs agedcarecrisis.com website, said the misuse of the photos was a shocking breach of the dignity and privacy of Ann Nichol House residents.

“To treat the residents like this is absolutely disgusting,” she said.

Ms Saltarelli said the incident was the “tip of the iceberg” of problems in the aged care industry, including a shortage of nurses.

An Ann Nichol House staff member, who did not wish to be named, said morale at the facility was low and personal care workers, who did not have the same level of training as nurses, were being given too much responsibility for looking after residents.

In September 2006, the Aged Care Standards Accreditation Agency found the Anne Nichols Hostel complied with all 44 expected outcomes for aged care facilities and accredited it to November 2009.