Day 1 – Monday 17 June
The Royal Commission’s first Western Australia hearing was held this week in Broome, with a large focus on the provision of care for indigenous Australians and Australians living in remote areas. Counsel assisting, Paul Bolster commenced proceedings by giving an overview of aged care services in remote Australia, their funding structures and the likelihood of their use by members of the Indigenous community. A community supervisor and senior support worker from Bidyadanga Community Care Centre, Faye Dean and Ryan Hammond, were the first to give evidence, highlighting the need for increased care services in remote regions, recounting their experience working with dementia patients who travel long distances to access care and the difficulties in communication and reliance on interpreters in indigenous communities. Madeleine Jadai, a full-time carer living in Bidyadanga, then spoke of her experience caring for her sister who was the recipient of a home care package provided by the Home and Community Care Program. Yvonne Grosser, the fourth witness for the day, spoke of her experience as a nurse working at the Germanus Kent House in Broome where she called for staff training that focused on cultural awareness for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Tamra Bridges, Group General Manager for Australian Regional and Remote Community Services, provided insight into the care provided to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Docker River and the Torres Strait, and stated that lack of access to training and police check requirements presented challenges to staffing in some communities. Craig Barke, Chief Executive Officer of Uniting Care Queensland noted that the current funding model for regional care facilities was not sustainable as many services rely heavily on government funding. The final witness for the day was Professor Leon Flicker, Professor of Geriatric Medicine of the University of Western Australia. Professor Flicker highlighted the general distrust amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in relation to aged care services.
Day 2 – Tuesday 18 June
Day two of the Broome hearings opened with evidence provided by Dr Martin Laverty, CEO of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, who outlined the importance of primary health care in remote communities and its impact on aged care. Graham Aitken, CEO of Aboriginal Community Care (ACC) SA spoke about the ACC’s unique model of care that provides services for Elders through community centres and home care. Ruth Crawford, Manager for Kimberley Aged and Community Services (KACS) then gave an overview of the relationships that KACS has developed with other service providers and remote community care centres and visiting specialists. Belinda Robinson and Rejane Le Grange, the Residential and Acting Managers respectively, for a number of facilities in regional Australia, described the use of traditional cooking and food as a way to provide tailored care services to indigenous care recipients. Ms Le Grange was examined in relation to a particular reported incident and gave evidence relating to the challenges of maintaining flexibility in the workforce when engaging Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander staff. The final witness for the day, Dr Michael Preece, the Executive Director of Operations at Juniper, provided an overview of the organisation’s structure and the way it services remote communities throughout Derby, Wyndham, Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek.
Day 3 – Wednesday 19 June
The final day of the Broome hearing started with evidence given by Dr Kate Fox, GP at Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services and Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service. Dr Fox gave evidence regarding the difficulties in transporting patients in remote communities to care services which included issues relating to trust, language barriers and lack of resources to manage complex chronic diseases to enable Elders to remain on Country. Roslyn May, Project Officer and Researcher at University of Western Australia Centre for Health and Ageing was next to give evidence, focusing on the need for an employment strategy to recruit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders into aged care and to encourage culturally appropriate care services to indigenous patients. The final witness at the Broom hearing was Vanessa Curnow, Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Management Unit at Torres and Cape Hospital and Health Service. Ms Curnow identified the priorities which she believed are vital to improving access to aged care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, including increasing numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff working in aged care facilities, believing that this would be more efficient and effective than training non-Indigenous staff to provide culturally appropriate care services. Closing remarks by Paul Bolster summarised the evidence given during the three day hearing and identified five key matters that are essential for the Royal Commission to focus on, namely: the importance of understanding the location and people who lived there; responding to the particular needs of the community, recognising the embedded culture; gain community trust; increased engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island staff; and to acknowledge the woeful inadequacy of the My Aged Care interface in addressing the care needs of Indigenous Australians.
The Aged Care Royal Commission Hearings will reconvene on Monday 24 June, in Perth with a focus on person-centred care.
