Former Aged Care Worker Found Guilty of Assault

MEDIA RELEASE

FORMER AGED CARE WORKER FOUND GUILTY OF ASSAULT

A former aged care worker, Anita Prajapati, was yesterday found guilty of assaulting an elderly dementia patient at RSL LifeCare’s Narrabeen facility in November 2018.

Protecting our senior Australians and ensuring their safety, health, well-being and quality of life, is the reason the overwhelming number of RSL LifeCare employees come to work every day.

We do not tolerate any form of harassment or abuse by any person who lives in, visits, or works in our homes.  We have clearly articulated procedures and detailed processes in place for responding to allegations of harassment or abuse to ensure they are managed quickly and appropriately.

In this case, as soon as management was alerted to the initial allegation, the employee was immediately suspended from all duties and the police and other authorities were contacted.  RSL LifeCare cooperated fully with the police throughout their investigation.

We apologised to the resident involved, ensured she was well comforted and notified her family.

As at 30 June 2019 RSL LifeCare had 2,058 residents in our Residential Aged Care facilities, offering 751,000 days of resident care per year, from 2,700 dedicated care employees.

Overwhelmingly these employees provide compassionate and professional care for our residents. To be clear, this incident was the action of a rogue former employee.

All employees are required to have passed a police criminal check and to have completed Mandatory Education Programs in the areas of:

• Code of Conduct
• Anti-Discrimination
• Anti-Bullying and Harassment
• Grievances and Complaints, and
• Compulsory Reporting.

Nevertheless, following last November’s incident, RSL LifeCare’s Narrabeen employees were also required to attend mandatory additional education sessions on:

• Behaviour management and documentation
• Professional standards/Code of conduct for nurses,
• Behaviour management and mandatory reporting, and
• How to communicate effectively.

This one-off incident was traumatic for the resident involved and we support the court’s decision.

We can be very proud of our aged care workers who provide excellent quality care and support.

Media enquiries: Adam Connolly 0417 170 084