Older people have the right to be treated with respect and dignity, whether they are being cared for in their own homes or in aged care residences.

Abuse can be any harm to someone caused by another person in a position of trust or authority. The abuser could be a spouse or family member, a carer, friend, co-resident or a worker.

Protection in Aged Care Homes

The Charter of Residents Rights and Responsibilities under the Aged Care Act 1997 explicitly states that people living in aged care homes have the right to be treated with dignity and respect, and to live without exploitation, abuse or neglect. To read more about the Charter of Residents Rights and Responsibilities, click here.

All residential care services are required to maintain standards. To meet these standards, services must provide a high quality of personal care to every resident, have a safe building and be committed to protecting their resident's rights. Service providers must also ensure that they have appropriately qualified staff with the right mix of skills to meet residents' needs. The standards cover all aspects of residents' needs from health and personal care and safety to a range of lifestyle matters including independence, privacy and dignity. To read more about residential standards and accreditation, click here.

All Australian Government-funded residential aged care services must, by law, report all incidents or allegations of sexual or serious physical assault. Reports must be made to the police and the Office of Aged Care Quality and Compliance within the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing on 1800 550 552 (free call).

Elder Abuse

When the media began to cover much publicised incidents of elder abuse in February 2006, ACST immediately responded to ensure that the message that any form of abuse is anathema to the philosophy of aged and community care - an affront to the values that motivate those involved in providing care was widely communicated.

After holding an industry summit in June 2006 an industry wide Elder Abuse Working Party (EAWP) was formed in order to scope an overall policy direction of responses to elder abuse for Tasmania. At its meeting in November, the EAWP endorsed a possible response framework for Tasmania, endorsed the need for training for the sector and requested that ACST continue to advocate for the establishment of a Tasmanian advisory committee, resourced by government, comprising industry and government representation, to develop a strategy for the prevention of the abuse of older persons and the development of an elder abuse response framework for Tasmania.

ACST has since formed a partnership with the Tasmanian Council of Social Services (TasCoSS), Advocacy Tasmania and Council on the Ageing and this alliance has progressed a representation to the State Government.

All Aged Care Services

Operators of aged care services funded by the Australian Government are required to ensure staff, volunteers and contractors who have, or are likely to have, unsupervised access to care recipients to undergo a national criminal history record check, which must be renewed every three years.

The Complaints Investigation Scheme (CIS) is available to anyone who wishes to provide information or make a complaint about an Australian Government funded aged care service, including residents of aged care homes, people receiving community aged care packages or flexible care or relatives, guardians or representatives of those receiving care. To read more about the Complaints Investigation Scheme, click here.

Advocacy Services

Free, confidential and independent advocacy services are available to those people who live in an Australian Government-funded aged care home. If you would like to speak with someone about your rights, or have support in exercising your rights, you or your representative can contact advocacy services to discuss how they may be able to support you. To find out more, click here.