can only charge fees for additional care and services<\/a> where a resident agrees to it, is able to access and benefit from the services, and has the capacity to make use of them.<\/p>\nWhen Gilling discovered this, he emailed the managers at his mother\u2019s home, Estia Health\u2019s Epping aged care facility, in 2019. \u201cIt is unconscionable \u2013 and I believe unlawful \u2013 for you to be charging this fee in respect of a resident with dementia who does not have the cognisant ability to choose the services or to benefit from them,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Jeff Gilling outside the Estia Health aged care facility in Epping. Photograph: Supplied<\/p>\n
After a review by the regional manager, Gilling was reimbursed $26,741 in February 2021, to cover 537 days charged during the time his mother was in a dementia support unit.<\/p>\n
In October 2021, a further refund of $10,088 was approved, after Gilling successfully argued the fees should never have been applied, from the first day his mother entered the facility.<\/p>\n
Gilling said not all families would be aware that the charges are unlawful, or have the ability to fight them.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou really do need to kind of gather up your fortitude and arm yourself with stamina and confidence, because it is a bit of a battle, and you\u2019re really the David to their Goliath,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An Estia Health spokesperson said when a resident or family raised a concern about fees, it was reviewed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere we find a charge was not right, we correct it, and refund what should not have been charged,\u201d she said. \u201cResidents and their authorised representative can request a review of additional services, or opt out of them, at any time.<\/p>\n
\u201cCaring for older Australians, including those living with dementia, is a privilege and we take our obligations to them seriously\u201d.<\/p>\n
Concerns about \u2018two-tier\u2019 system<\/p>\n
In an attempt to rein in unlawful charging for basic services, the government in November introduced the Higher Everyday Living Fee (Helf), allowing residents to be charged for premium services and lifestyle additions that go above and beyond the mandatory standard of care.<\/p>\n
Hefren-Webb said she is concerned that in response some unnamed providers had reduced standards \u2013 such as choice and availability of meals \u2013 \u201cin ways that encourage or pressure residents to purchase premium options\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Aged Care Quality Standards are clear that residents must have access to a high-quality standard meal service that is nutritious, appealing and responsive to their preferences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cProviders cannot use Helf arrangements to reduce the quality, quantity, choice or nutritional adequacy of the standard meal service that must be available to all residents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The commission\u2019s investigation is focusing on Helf fees specifically.<\/p>\n
Dr Sarah Russell, the director of the advocacy group Aged Care Matters, said a \u201cworrying aspect of Helf\u201d was that providers can choose the cost and the type of inclusions.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor example, an aged care home in NSW included entertainment as an extra service, despite the fact that this entertainment was provided by a volunteer,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She said Helf had embedded additional service fees as the norm, creating a \u201ctwo-tier\u201d system: \u201cThose who can afford the additional services, and those who can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
Do you know more? melissa.davey@theguardian.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jeff Gilling was surprised when he looked at the contract for the aged care home his mother, Dorothy,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":795839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-795838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}