Health by Natasha Bita, Kyle Wisniewski 29th Jan 2021 5:16 AM
Premium Content Â
Exclusive: A Queensland nursing home has been declared an immediate and severe risk to residents after a surprise swoop by government inspectors. An investigation by News Corp Australia can reveal that 26 Australian aged care homes have current sanctions or compliance orders imposed by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC), after unannounced audits. In Queensland, the ACQSC found an immediate and severe risk to residents at the Southport Lodge nursing home on the Gold Coast. A new audit report, released only this week, reveals ACQSC slapped a sanction on the home last month, banning it from receiving taxpayer subsidies for any new residents for six months.
Health by Natasha Bita
Premium Content Exclusive: Newmarch House, where NSW s deadliest COVID-19 cluster killed 17 elderly residents, is among the aged care homes which have been busted breaking coronavirus rules during the pandemic. Government inspectors uncovered ongoing COVID-19 breaches in 15 nursing homes - nine in NSW, four in Victoria and two in Queensland - despite the deaths of 685 Australians in aged care from the coronavirus last year. The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) cut short the accreditation of Newmarch House in Kingswood until May 14 this year, after it failed an unannounced audit in July. Deficits were found in staff infection control practices and cleaning of equipment including during the COVID-19 outbreak, the audit report states.
Advertisement
The multimillionaire co-owner of Epping Gardens aged care home where 38 residents died from COVID-19 previously worked for a taxi company in Preston and pleaded guilty to rorting a government-funded scheme that assisted disabled people.
Peter Arvanitis was charged with 101 counts of obtaining property by deception in 1999, but eventually pleaded guilty to just three charges in the Melbourne Magistrates Court in 2000, when he was handed a six-month community-based order, without conviction.
Peter Arvanitis and his wife, Areti.
Credit:Instagram
A former employee of the now-defunct taxi company said the scam involved a system introduced by the Victorian government to subsidise taxi trips for disabled people who were incapable of using public transport.
Peter Arvanitis and his wife Areti reportedly left Melbourne two weeks before Christmas after receiving a travel exemption from the Australian Department of Home Affairs to attend to “essential business” in Athens.
The backlash over poor conditions at Epping Gardens where 103 residents tested positive to COVID-19 and 86 staff got infected has been overwhelming. The news of the Arvanitis’ departure has infuriated grieving relatives and affected staff even further.
“[Mr Arvanitis] has never taken any responsibility or shown any compassion. We want him to come back to Melbourne and face up to the families who have been destroyed by this,” Sam Agnello, who is lead plaintiff in a class action involving Heritage Care, said to