Co-author of study finding 140 suicides from 2000 to 2013 says transition programs needed for new nursing home residents

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

An aged care expert is calling for nursing homes to introduce special programs to help new residents settle in as well as regular screenings for depression.

A study released last year by Monash University researcher Briony Murphy and Professor Joseph Ibrahim uncovered 140 nursing home suicides in Australia between 2000 and 2013.

It found 70% were male, 66% had a diagnosis of depression, 43% were experiencing loneliness, about 30% had trouble adjusting to life in a nursing home and 80% were experiencing major life stresses including health deterioration.

Ibrahim, who is preparing a submission for the royal commission into aged care, said between a quarter to a third of depression cases in nursing homes are unrecognised and untreated.

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“One of the challenges is that we expect old people to be down in the dumps because they are old, have a disability and they have been dislocated from home,” he told the Guardian.

“In one sense people say that’s a normal reaction, and it’s hard sometimes to separate out what is a reaction to those losses from clinical depression that needs treatment.”

Ibrahim said it was important nursing homes introduce transition programs to help new residents adjust.

“It’s more men that suicide than women and it’s often the ones that have just recently arrived in the last 12 months,” he said.

In 2017 the highest age-specific suicide rate was among males aged 85 years and older, recording 32.8 deaths per 100,000 persons, compared with the national rate of 12.6.

Last year’s federal budget allocated $102.5m over four years towards improving mental health services for nursing homes residents.

Ibrahim’s 2017 report on preventing injuries in nursing homes estimated 40% of nursing residents experience symptoms of depression.

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He also called for better staff training and improved access to mental health services.

One aged-care worker told the Guardian that staff at some nursing homes were not properly trained to perform the depression screenings and the tool used required a very high score to trigger GP referral.

“Even then you would most likely just end up medicated: no psychologist, no addressing the underlying issues,” the source said.

For one Tasmanian family, there was heartbreak in January 2018 when their Vietnam war veteran relative was able to smuggle a firearm into his aged care centre and take his own life.

Ross Eberhardt, a farmer who had served in the navy, died in January 2018 after a month at the Respect Wellington Views aged care facility in Hobart.

“He couldn’t cope. He didn’t want to be there,” his nephew Simon Eberhardt said. “No one picked up on it. We knew he was grumpy, but we thought just give it time. It wasn’t like he was left there, he had plenty of visits from family.”

Eberhardt likened his uncle’s time in the nursing home to a “free animal in a cage”.

“He was a tough old soul, they don’t breed them like that anymore. Ross was a cantankerous old bugger,” he said. “His quality of life was poor and deteriorating rapidly. He could hardly breathe, he was on oxygen bottles best part of the day and night.”

Tasmanian police said no charges were laid over the death and the coroner was investigating.

The incident was widely known about in Tasmania’s aged care sector but had not been reported in the media.

Respect Wellington Views declined to say whether it has flagged the suicide with the aged care royal commission.

“My sympathies are very much with the family and friends of our former resident, who had a terminal illness and had been receiving palliative care at Respect Wellington Views for four weeks at the time of his passing in tragic circumstances,” managing director Jason Binder told the Guardian.

“This was the first suicide incident we have experienced in our 100-year history.”

Binder is confident the organisation had complied with all its obligations.

“This included self-reporting this incident immediately to the Australian Aged Care Quality agency who audited emotional support, mental healthcare and palliative care processes and found Wellington Views to have been fully compliant.

“The Aged Care Quality agency heavily scrutinised the care of the particular resident in question and similarly found Wellington Views to have been fully compliant,” Binder said.

* Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours a day: Lifeline 13 11 14;Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467; Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800; MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78; Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636