The post Tasmanians tell us ‘Support at Home’ is failing them appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>Many older Tasmanians need support to stay independent in their own homes and out of hospitals and aged care facilities. They have the right to be treated with dignity and respect.
It should be easy!
But it’s not.
Tasmanians tell us they face roadblocks at every stage of the process and that the SAH program isn’t giving them the services and support they’re entitled to receive.
Tasmanians are telling us the SAH Program is not fit for purpose – that the impact is real and the consequences are devastating.
Here are some of the things our clients have told us:
We recently highlighted our clients’ stories and experiences in a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the SAH Program (link in comments).
We’ve told Parliament exactly what our clients think of SAH and how it’s failing vulnerable Tasmanians.
You’ve seen the reports on TV, in the newspapers and on Facebook. Clients come to us every day about the failings of SAH – the stories and experiences they tell us are harrowing.
AdvoTas can help older Tasmanians fix problems with aged care services.
Reach out to us if you need help or would like to understand your options.
AdvoTas is free, independent and confidential.
1800 005 131 (free call)
0457 806 963 (text)
You can also send us an online referral at our website:
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]]>The post Notice of Annual General Meeting appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>The primary business of the meeting will be to:
To RSVP for the Annual General Meeting please email contact@yoursaytas.org or call 1800 005 131 by no later than COB Friday 10 October 2025.
Jim Paterson
Public Officer
The post Notice of Annual General Meeting appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>The post AdvoTas on Tasmania’s Disability Strategy 2025 – 2027 (‘Draft Strategy’) appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>We included several client stories in our submission and have summarised Steven’s experience below.
Steven’s situation is one that many Tasmanians can relate to. Despite showing signs of autism throughout his childhood and adulthood, Steven didn’t receive a formal diagnosis until he was 30 years old, in August 2023. His ADHD, which went undiagnosed due to being homeschooled, compounded the challenges he faced, leaving him to navigate a childhood filled with trauma, anxiety, depression, and complex PTSD.
There are significant barriers for Tasmanians to access pathways for diagnosis and access to services, which are often expensive and difficult to go through. With a severe shortage of psychologists and clinicians in Tasmania, especially in rural areas, Steven was forced to get his diagnosis through a telehealth consultation with an interstate psychiatrist. However, face-to-face support remains out of reach for him.
Unfortunately, Steven is not alone. People across Tasmania, particularly in rural areas, face long waitlists—sometimes as long as six months or more—for much-needed services.
Many are left with no choice but to either relocate interstate or continue living with poor quality of life, despite their diagnoses.
Our advocates hear similar stories daily. Providers across the state are at full capacity or not accepting new clients, leaving so many without access to crucial care.
If you are facing similar challenges, please reach out to us.
Advocacy Tasmania
Our service is free, independent, and confidential, please get in touch if you need us:
1800 005 131 (free call)
0457 806 963 (text)
contact@yoursaytas.org
The post AdvoTas on Tasmania’s Disability Strategy 2025 – 2027 (‘Draft Strategy’) appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>The post You won’t believe what you’re NOT told and how ratings info is obtained! appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>So, here it is…
The flaws and inaccuracies of the ratings system are very clear IF you know where to look.
We’ve provided a snapshot of what you don’t see below. This is publicly available information but you need to know where you can find it which isn’t so easy.
We have matched the star rating of some homes against information available on the Aged Care Regulator’s (Aged Care Quality & Safety Commission) webpage and it’s been illuminating.
In addition, the information below is important if you’re considering using the rating system to guide your decision on selecting an aged care home.
As it stands the Aged Care Regulator, ACQSC, can decide to exclude non-compliance issues in the Star Ratings provided the aged care home management shows a ‘genuine commitment’ to resolving the issues!
Of course, when caught out, aged care home management will say they are ‘genuinely committed’; they will make the right noises and have months to ‘remedy’ serious shortfalls.
But we are talking about non-compliance with personal & clinical care and other essential standards which can be a life-or-death matter. And, as our clients’ have experienced, non-compliance findings aren’t necessarily resolved even when many months have been provided to fix issues. Our clients often make similar complaints to the Aged Care Regulator year after year and nothing changes.
SURELY THE PUBLIC HAS A RIGHT TO KNOW WHEN AN AGED CARE HOME IS NON-COMPLIANT? By only reporting on ‘sanctions’ this does not give a true picture of what is happening on the ground.
Not only that, but the Regulator hasn’t even fully assessed aged care homes against ALL standards in each assessment round. This means that the most critical standards such as ‘personal & clinical care’, ‘services & supports for daily living’, ‘consumer dignity & choice’ along with ‘ongoing assessment & planning with consumers’, may not even have been recently assessed.
We have found a 4-star rated home has only been assessed against 2 out of the 8 standards. In another 4-star rated home they are non-compliant in 6 of the 8 standards! How can anyone have faith in the ratings when critical standards are not even being met or assessed?
For full transparency the Aged Care Regulator must publish a list of all complaints it receives about each aged care home, and they must be matched to the aged care home’s star rating.
It is incredibly arduous and not for the faint hearted to go through an ACQSC complaint process so making a complaint in the first place is a difficult decision. The public should be able to see the number and types of complaints against each aged care home. Now, that would be a meaningful measure and would likely vastly improve aged care provider practices.
This information should be linked to all star ratings not buried on another webpage.
Our clients tell us that when choosing a home, they want to know about quality standards compliance and actual resident feedback over all other measures.
And what about the incredibly small sample size of aged care residents who are ‘surveyed’ for these ratings? It is the residents’ experience that should be paramount YET their experience accounts for only 33% of the entire star rating assessment.
What is even more staggering is that there is only a minimum requirement of 10% of residents involved in the ‘Residents’ Experience Survey’ – it has a target of 20% but 10% is just fine.
There are all kinds of exclusions as to why a resident won’t be asked for their experiences and… wait for it… the aged care home management brief the ‘assessors’ as to who meets the criteria!
So, ‘assessors’ come into the aged care home, they’re unknown to the resident, the resident doesn’t know if they can be trusted, they don’t have independent support to provide their feedback as that’s difficult to organise at short notice, and they’re potentially vetted by aged care management so they may not even be approached by an assessor.
If you lived in an aged care home, would you speak out about your experience when there are no safeguards?
Our clients tell us they’re already afraid and are even more fearful that speaking out about anything will make their situation worse.
Some of the feedback we have received from our clients:
Residents who happen to have their door closed (they may be in the bathroom, live with hearing difficulties, or be asleep), who are unwell or who have ‘adverse behaviours’ are excluded. And, of course, don’t forget that the survey team works with management to flag any residents that meet the exclusion criteria!
The idea that this process ‘gives residents a chance to tell us about the care they receive at their Residential Aged Care Home’ (according to a government website) in no way reflects what our clients tell us. It is also entirely possible that the Residents Experience Survey is, at times, completed without the resident even being involved as the assessor can legitimately speak with a resident’s guardian or supporter.
Each star rating should clearly identify how many actual residents have been surveyed.
How can a system, that is designed to reflect the experiences of people living in an aged care home, carry any weight at all when it is entirely possible that the residents themselves are not even involved in the survey.
Our clients tell us it’s a joke and that they have no voice.
What do you think?
Advocacy Tasmania
Our service is free, independent, and confidential, please get in touch if you need us:
Advocacy Tasmania
1800 005 131 (free call)
0457 806 963 (text)
The post You won’t believe what you’re NOT told and how ratings info is obtained! appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>The post Beware My Aged Care Star Ratings! appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>4 Star rating for aged care home failing to comply with standards
Moving into residential aged care is a huge decision.
You and your loved ones will need all available information so that you can be assured the aged care home you choose will be the right one and that you/your loved one will be safe, well cared for and happy.
My Aged Care (MAC) gives aged care homes a ‘star rating’ from one to five. It is meant to make it easy for consumers.
Great idea, right?
An easy ratings system. Like restaurant and accommodation rating guides or any review sites that we’re used to checking before spending our money. But unlike those choices the stakes are incredibly high. It could even be a life-or-death decision, depending on the quality of care you/your loved one will receive.
So, it would be reasonable to expect that the information on MAC is accurate and current, with full transparency of any issues that the aged care home may have.
But the star ratings cannot be trusted.
Our clients are shocked that Glenview Community Services in Southern Tasmania which has a 4-star rating, also has an Enforceable Undertaking with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC)!
The two aged care homes in Tasmania covered by the Enforceable Undertaking both have 4-star (good) ratings on the MAC website for their compliance with the aged care quality standards.
We know that this is not the case.
We know that there have been failures, and our clients are despairing this these things continue to happen. In Glenview’s case there have been critical failures relating to continence management and residents’ freedoms (among other things).
But the star ratings for compliance for these aged care homes have not been updated since 13 January 2024 for one, and the other since 2 April 2023. That is nearly two years ago.
The MAC website says: ‘A 4-star rating means that the provider has had no compliance issues for 1 year’. But if this information has not been updated for nearly two years, how are consumers meant to make informed choices about where to live, and who to put their trust in?
There is no requirement for Enforceable Undertakings to be published on the MAC website, because officially they are not ‘formal sanctions.’
Formally on the MAC website, the two aged care homes have ‘no compliance issues’ currently. You would have no idea unless you knew where to look. These agreements simply allow providers to fly under the radar.
The star system and the MAC website are meant to make the aged care system transparent. They need to reflect what is actually going on in aged care homes. They need to be accurate, current, and reflect ongoing compliance issues. Not be hidden away from the public gaze due to loopholes.
If you’re confused about what an Enforceable Undertaking is, let us explain.
It is a legally binding agreement between an aged care provider and the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC). It’s typically put in place when a provider has failed to meet certain standards but hasn’t faced formal penalties or sanctions. Instead, the provider agrees to make improvements within a set timeframe to avoid further action. An Enforceable Undertaking is only entered into where there have been continuous issues with compliance.
Enforceable Undertakings are not required to be published on the MAC website. But they ARE publicly available documents and can be found on the ACQSC webpage. We have made available on our Advocacy Tasmania web page this post and the Glenview Community Services Enforceable Undertaking.
Aged Care providers need to be fully accountable for their failings.
According to one of our clients, ‘Enforceable Undertakings are a joke – there needs to be criminal penalties for CEO’s and Board Chairs otherwise nothing will change for our loved ones. And we must live the rest of our lives with the guilt of having moved them into that home’.
Clearly, you must dig deep to get the information you need to make an informed decision. Our clients’ despair is real – they thought they had made the right decision only to have disaster befall them and their loved ones.
Advocacy Tasmania can help.
Our service is free, independent, and confidential, please get in touch if you need us:
Advocacy Tasmania
1800 005 131 (free call)
0457 806 963 (text)
contact@yoursaytas.org
[Image Description: The image features white bold text on a black brush-stroke shape, set against a teal background. The text reads: ‘Beware My Aged Care Star Ratings’)
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]]>The post Aged Care Bill 2024 appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>We have raised the alarm, urging Senators to amend the Bill to prevent new systems of coercion and control. This letter below calls for urgent changes to protect the rights, freedom, and dignity of older Australians.
The post Aged Care Bill 2024 appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>The post Notice of Annual General Meeting appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>The primary business of the meeting will be to:
To RSVP for the Annual General Meeting please email contact@yoursaytas.org or call 1800 005 131 by no later than COB Friday 4 October 2024.
Jim Paterson
Public Officer
The post Notice of Annual General Meeting appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>The post Advocacy Tasmania wins Human Rights Commission Community Award. appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>We’ve worked so hard defending Tasmanians’ human rights for over 34 years and this, in addition to our 3 year campaign to change Tasmania’s broken guardianship and administration system and our work to finally get some accountability and change at Southern Cross Care has been recognised nationally.
We were the only Tasmanian finalist and one of just 21 selected from more than 260 nominations for the annual awards.
The awards recognise human rights heroes across the country.
It is such wonderful recognition of our work and our entire team is incredibly proud of their achievements.
Australian Human Rights Commission president Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM said the judging panel was ‘very impressed by the calibre and variety of the 263 nominations we received.’
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]]>The post Annual Report 2022-23: CEO Reflections appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>In 2021, the Aged Care Royal Commission made 148 recommendations, yet our clients tell us rights abuses continue. Last month the Disability Royal Commission made 222 recommendations, and what we heard through those hearings was devastating. In both Royal Commissions Tasmanians courageously told their stories in the hope that change would follow. The recent findings of the Commission of Inquiry into the Tasmanian Government’s responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Institutional Settings have also shocked and sickened Tasmanians to the core.
And it seems every day the media expose new horrors.
The despair and grief feel unfathomable, and ever present in our lives. Urgent action must be taken to end inherently cruel and dehumanising systems and practices. Tasmanians’ rights must be protected.
This year, we’ve worked on 2538 individual advocacy issues supporting Tasmanians to resolve rights abuses. We’ve had some life-changing wins, but we are not successful every time. Regardless, we continue until all options are exhausted. If a rights abuse can be resolved, then our team are the ones to do it. I am incredibly proud of their tenacity, strength and their results.
While our advocacy practice will always be ‘Your say’ because it’s our clients’ voices that matter, we have now reinforced our brand with a new line, ‘In your corner’ because that’s where we are, firmly in our clients’ corner, working at their direction to achieve what they want.
We have continued to seek change to guardianship legislation and have successfully kept the issue front and centre in the media, lobbying politicians, writing submissions, and advocating to embed rights in draft legislation. We still haven’t achieved a supported decision-making system, but I am proud that our work has resulted in greater accountability and protections in The Guardianship and Administration Amendment Bill 2023.
In 2021 Southern Cross Care was singled out in the Aged Care Royal Commission, for all the wrong reasons. Hundreds of their residents became our clients and we tirelessly worked to resolve the many abuses ranging from neglect, poor nutrition, intimidation and more. Once again, to effect change, we had to take our message broadly to make Tasmanians aware of our clients’ experiences and we did this through media and Facebook. We worked closely with Andrew Wilkie MP who raised our clients’ voices in Federal parliament.
We wrote to the Minister and Aged care Commissioner. It worked. Within a month, both the Board Chair and CEO of Southern Cross Care had resigned. Hopefully this ushers a new era; we will be watching to make sure it does.
This is the power of advocacy.
So, no matter what is thrown at Tasmanians, no matter how difficult things looks, we are not afraid to say it as it is and to find ways to make necessary change.
Tasmanians can rest assured that we will always work to protect their rights.
Thanks for your support.
Leanne Groombridge
Chief Executive Officer
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]]>The post Guardianship & Administration Campaign appeared first on Advocacy Tasmania.
]]>Our campaign started in 2021. Throughout the campaign, we have worked to amplify the voices of people who bravely spoke out about what was happening to them behind closed doors. We have engaged with politicians at every level of government, worked with media to tell people’s stories, and tirelessly sought to change the fundamentals of these systems from being coercion and state control to choice and dignity.
We succeeded in having an independent review called into Tasmania’s Public Trustee that made clear what we already knew – that these government agencies fundamentally misunderstood their own job, and we successfully campaigned for the rights of people to share their own stories.
We are now embarking on a new chapter, with better laws and protections that we have helped influence and shape, with more tools to fights for the rights and decisions of people throughout the state. But this new chapter is not the end, there is so much further to go. And we will be there, standing alongside everyone who deserves better, for as long as it takes.
You can read more about our campaign below.
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