Watching the sad saga of South Australia’s Oakden Older Person Mental Health facility being played out in the media at the moment, we felt it was important to point out that this facility is not typical of our aged care homes in Australia.
Three weeks ago, SA Health’s Chief Psychiatrist, Dr Aaron Groves, delivered a 115-page report into Oakden – you can take a look at it here.
His conclusion? It is a mental health facility with the wrong resources and support. “In summary, Oakden is not providing the right care, at the right time from the right team,” he writes.
Yes, its standards of care have been proven to be well below any acceptable benchmark. But Oakden does not represent the 3,000 aged care homes – and their 300,000 staff – we have across the country.
This letter that appeared in The Australian this week is a reminder that there is always more than one side to a story:
I write in defence of all the dedicated staff and wonderful Oakden Volunteers Association members who cared for my wife for 20 years at Oakden, as I feel their reputation and honour has been traduced by implication from all the bad press.
There are two sides to every story but we are only hearing one side – why? My wife passed away in July 2015 and a contingent of four people from the staff and volunteers attended her funeral. I fear the Oakden my wife was in for 20 years must have been in a parallel universe to the one they are writing about in the press.
Eric Olsen, Fulham Gardens, SA
