An 83-year-old man was found with maggots in his ear while staying in a nursing home in Bupa.
It is revealed that taxpayers spent $475 million funding the facility.
The elderly man, John Callaghan, has cancer and became a resident at the Bupa Tugun nursing home on the Gold Coast.
His family said to The Daily Telegraph that Mr. Callaghan asked them to take him home after spending two weeks at the aged-care facility due to inexperienced staff. When his wife visited, she found maggots in his ears!
10 days after his family raised concerns, Mr. Callaghan passed away at a nearby hospital.
It was revealed that while taxpayers spent hundreds of millions of dollars, 15 out of 30 Bupa facilities in NSW breached basic care benchmarks.
Mr. Callaghan’s wife said she was disgusted by the state of her husband when she went to visit him at the Bupa facility.
“He wasn’t an easy man to look after, he was in great pain and was battling cancer in his ear, but when I came to visit him maggots were crawling out of his ears,” Mrs. Callaghan expressed.
She and her husband was not completely aware of the conditions of the facility but he told his wife: “This is a terrible place it’s dreadful, they don’t look after you please get me out.”
A Bupa spokesperson told Daily Mail: “This was a serious but isolated incident which occurred in 2017 at our Bupa Tugun home. The issue was quickly addressed by nurses at the home and Mr Callaghan was transferred to the local hospital at the time.
“We conducted our own independent investigation and strengthened our wound care management processes, including partnering with external wound care specialists and conducting spot checks.
“Bupa Tugun has passed five external audits by the regulator since October 2017 and is fully compliant with all aged care standards.
“This particular case was also investigated by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission earlier this year and was closed following consultation with Bupa and Mrs Callaghan.
“We are clearly very sorry this initial incident occurred, and Bupa has apologised to Mrs Callaghan.”
Suzanne Dvorak, the managing Director of Bupa Villagers and Aged Care, said in a statement: “In the vast majority of our 72 aged care homes across Australia, things are working well and we are meeting the expected standards for our residents.’
“We are investing millions of dollars into our aged care business. This has included additional staffing, resources and training. We’ve also listened to residents and their families and are acting on their feedback.
“We know that fixing some of these issues takes time, but a number of the homes that were previously identified as having problems have now passed external audits, are no longer sanctioned and have been fully re-accredited.
“Our nurses, carers and support staff are committed to caring for those in our care.
“We are working to improve the quality of care in each and every home we operate, to help ensure that past mistakes don’t happen again and to restore confidence in all of our homes.”
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Replaced!