Families claim beloved relatives were mistreated by workers at Hocart Lodge Aged Care Centre in Harvey

Families are seeking answers after what they allege has been inadequate treatment of loved ones at the Hocart Lodge Aged Care facility in Harvey. One allegation involves a bed-ridden resident becoming severely dehydrated after his only liquids, a glass of water, was left on the other side of the room. He died in Harvey Hospital on Friday. Another woman alleges her mother was not given pain medication despite being in a palliative state. She claims her mother was later rushed to hospital by ambulance, where she also died. Just weeks before her death, the same resident was allegedly found by family dressed in nothing but a T-shirt and an incontinence pad, her lap then covered over by a food napkin. The Reporter was also supplied photos of some of the meals at the facility by a family member, including one slice of unbuttered bread sprinkled with dried herbs, another which shows a single slice of bread topped with egg, with a few leaves of lettuce, two slices of cucumber and five pieces of tomato on the side. In a statement Hocart Lodge’s board and management described the serious allegations as “deeply concerning” and acknowledged the facility was investigating a complaint made to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. Families of past and present residents of Hocart Lodge are gathering for a community forum at 6pm tomorrow at the Binningup Country Club. The forum is being organised by Carol Wright whose father William Peary was at Hocart Lodge up until a few weeks ago. He was taken to hospital on June 5, where he was diagnosed with pneumonia and severe dehydration. “When he came into hospital he was severely dehydrated,” Mrs Wright said. “He had two pressure sores on his rectum and pressure sores on his heels.” She had been worried about his condition when she visited on May 30. At that point Mr Peary had been bedridden for 10 days. “In the end he couldn’t get out of the chair or his bed,” Mrs Wright said. “But the water they provided was on his chest of drawers. On the other side of the room. “There was no way he could reach it.” Mrs Wright said Mr Peary was not given intravenous fluids. On June 4 a treating doctor contacted Mrs Wright to say her father needed to go to hospital. “He was in a really bad way, having trouble breathing,” Mrs Wright said. “A chest X-ray at the hospital confirmed he had pneumonia.” Mrs Wright also believes her father was denied basic dignity. “Nobody shaved him, nobody brushed his teeth, nobody cleaned his face in more than a week,” she said. Within an hour of being in Harvey Hospital he was shaved and cleaned and made comfortable. “It gave him respect and dignity. It’s a basic right we all have,” Mrs Wright said. Mr Peary died in hospital on Friday morning. Robyn Nicholls, whose mother Deborah Kirk was a resident at Hocart Lodge, said she believed her mother spent her final days at the facility in pain. On Mother’s Day Mrs Nicholls’ daughters visited Mrs Kirk and were distressed by the state they found her in. “They told me mum was wearing just her top and an incontinence pad covered with a napkin. A food napkin,” she said. “They didn’t show her any dignity.” On May 30 Mrs Nicholls’ son visited Mrs Kirk. “He told me something was wrong with her and I raised the alarm bells with Hocart.” Mrs Nicholls alleges the nurses told her there was nothing wrong with her mother, nor was she in a palliative state. On May 31, Mrs Nicholls’ daughter, a registered nurse, visited Mrs Kirk and again raised concerns. Mrs Nicholls said Hocart staff once again said Mrs Kirk was not palliative. “My daughter was told by the nurses that mum had not been given any morphine.” Mrs Kirk was taken to hospital by ambulance on June 1, and died on June 2. “Mum didn’t have to die the way she did,” Mrs Nicholls said. “She shouldn’t have had to die like that. They didn’t care. “It’s disgusting.” Hocart Lodge management replied to the families’ allegations in a statement from facility chief executive Ishbell Reid. Ms Reid said Hocart Lodge’s polices encouraged family members to raise concerns directly with the facility so the matter could be investigated “diligently”. “We take all complaints very seriously,” she said. “We understand that receiving a complaint gives us the opportunity to constantly review any aspect of our care for residents and to instigate processes that will improve aged care outcomes.” Ms Reid said if families were unwilling to make a direct complaint with Hocart Lodge they could lodge their complaint with the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. “We can confirm that we are currently investigating and responding to a complaint made to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission,” she said. Ms Reid outlined the facility’s ongoing recruitment to maintain staffing levels and said it partnered with several local agencies to ensure all employees were “committed and dedicated to the care and happiness of our residents”. She said the photographs of food allegedly served at the facility depict “only a portion” of the meals served at Hocart Lodge. Despite her father’s recent passing, Mrs Wright plans to go ahead with the community forum tomorrow night. “It’s not a witch-hunt,” she said. “It’s purely that change needs to happen, and people have voiced their concerns previously and nothing has changed. Maybe as a collective we can help change to happen.” Opinion - aged care