The daughter of a former Jindalee nursing home resident has spoken out about what she says was poor care that left her mother with 11 bed sores on her body.
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But Jindalee staff have rejected the criticism, saying the 94-year-old woman came to them with a range of complex pre-existing health problems, and pointing to what it says is an unblemished record of decades of high-quality care for its residents.
Mavis Strangio was placed into the care of Jindalee nursing home in Narrabundah for a six-month period, which ended when her family removed her last year.
Her daughter Annette Byrne said she became seriously concerned about the care within the first seven weeks.
She said she could not get anyone to feed her mother properly, and feared she was being left in the same spot for 12 to 14 hours at a time.
Mrs Byrne said her mother developed bed sores, and alleges she wasn't being walked or nursed in bed properly.
She said she complained to Jindalee staff.
"I actually cracked up, I actually just lost it," she said.
Mrs Byrne said her mother developed up to 11 bed sores, and she eventually pulled her from Jindalee, taking her to another facility.
Mrs Strangio passed away ten days later.
Mrs Byrne put in a complaint through the Aged Care Complaint Scheme, run by the federal government, but withdrew it after she said their staff appeared disbelieving of her claims.
She then went to the Aged Care Commissioner, and is currently in the process of resubmitting her original complaint to the Aged Care Complaint Scheme.
But staff at Jindalee, run by Johnson Village Services, have denied their care of Mrs Strangio was substandard.
Director of nursing Joanne Costuna – who won a clinical excellence award in 2008 and has been with the facility for roughly 20 years – said Mrs Strangio came to them with very complex health problems.
Mrs Costuna said the elderly resident had advanced dementia, pre-existing pressure sores on her body, nutrition problems, and poor mobility.
"She presented as a 94-year-old lady who was very unwell, with a whole lot of comorbidities, including an advanced dementing illness," Mrs Costuna said.
"She presented with compromised skin, she had a pressure sore on admission, but the most important thing here is that she did have a lot of diseases, and she was put under palliative care," she said.
Mrs Costuna said Jindalee had maintained an outstanding record of care during her two decades at the facility, and had very few complaints against it, none of which had been upheld by federal authorities.
She said Jindalee responded fully and comprehensively to Mrs Byrne's concerns, denying that staff reacted angrily to the complaint.
Mrs Byrne said she has also used a Facebook page named the Aged Care Report Card to review Jindalee.
The Department of Social Services, responsible for the Aged Care Complaint Scheme, does not comment on individual complaints or the affairs of an aged care provider.
