Bupa South Hobart resident Joan Sangwell is getting ready to celebrate her 103rd birthday.

Her family thought the last years of her life would be spent in a safe, comfortable and home-like environment.

Her daughter Rowena Butler said, sadly, that's not the case.

Rowena Butler wants better communications from aged care homes. ( ABC News: Annah Fromberg )

"There's no personal care for her, she still washes her smalls, no one generally makes her bed for her, this lady's 102 and a half, she tends to sit in her room, no one visits, [and] there's not enough staff for the one-on-one," she said.

As a growing number of Tasmanian nursing homes fail their accreditation standards, families are contacting the ABC to share their stories.

Two weeks ago it was revealed Bupa South Hobart had been sanctioned after an audit by the Federal Government's Aged Care Quality Agency (ACQA) identified an immediate and severe risk to the health and safety of residents.

As a result, the facility was cut off from Commonwealth subsidies for new residents for six months.

Joan Sangwell's family hoped for a comfortable life for her in aged care. ( Supplied: Joan Sangwell )

Ms Butler said staff were marvellous but since Bupa took over the home, there had been significant cutbacks.

"Under Baldwin, when it was [called] Vaucluse Gardens, Mr Baldwin was determined it would be a home away from home, and it was it was absolutely beautiful," she said.

"When Bupa came in, the bottom line was the dollar, the immediate difference was the staff cuts."

Mrs Sangwell's family claimed she hadn't had a care plan for 18 months, and her daughter said she had taken over washing her sheets and clothes.

"A few weeks ago, when her normal care team was on holidays for three weeks, her bed linen was not changed," she said.

"I could tell because there were marks on it, and her clothing had not been changed, she had the same top for a fortnight and she had food stains down the front of it."

Bupa issued a statement late on Tuesday.

"We take these concerns very seriously. We have spoken to Mrs Sangwell's family and have organised a meeting with them this week to address their concerns. "We can confirm that all residents have a care plan in place, and these are reviewed every three months and amended as needed throughout the year. "Bupa South Hobart has a weekly linen schedule, however linen is changed throughout the week as needed. "We offer residents a range of activities at Bupa South Hobart. "While residents are encouraged to attend these activities, they are not compulsory. "We understand that participation in activities can sometimes be a point of concern between residents and their family members.

Do you know more about this story? Contact tasindepth@abc.net.au

Sixth nursing home on notice

It has come to light that six aged care homes in Tasmania have this year failed ACQA audits.

Operators of the Yaraandoo 81-bed aged care facility at Somerset, on Tasmania's North West Coast, released a statement on Wednesday morning saying they were "surprised" by ACQA findings earlier this month that it failed to meet "clinical care" and "documentation" standards.

The home is managed by Southern Cross Care Tasmania, and CEO Richard Sadek said the facility had met all required standards on August 29th.

The Department of Health has imposed sanctions on Yaraandoo, including appointing an advisor and administrator to report on progress of implementing strategies to correct the deficits identified as well as implementing a training program.

Mr Sadek said he had briefed staff, residents and their families, health professionals and other key contacts on the situation and promised to work as quickly as possible to return Yaraandoo to full compliance.

"We have made an attempt to get in touch personally with all families of residents as well, but given the short time frame, it has not been possible to speak face-to-face with all," he said.

"We have sent letters to all resident representatives today."

The May Shaw aged care facility in Swansea sent letters to residents when it was being investigated. ( ABC News: Peter Curtis )

A "serious risk" to residents was also identified at Swansea's May Shaw nursing home in August.

It failed on two key accreditation measures — "clinical care" and "skin care" — and the Health Department was notified.

In a statement, the facility's chief executive, Julie Orr, said improvements had since been made, and May Shaw was committed to providing the best possible standards of care.

"We have been working closely with the Quality Agency to ensure that we are fully compliant," she said.

"We have updated our policies and procedures, increased staffing hours, recruited new staff and upgraded our IT systems.

"As a result of these improvements we believe we are fully compliant with all the required standards."

Meanwhile, the Queen Victoria aged care facility in Lindisfarne failed seven accreditation outcomes in an audit in September and has until December to rectify the problems.

Barossa Park Lodge in Glenorchy and Sandown Apartments in Sandy Bay have remedied clinical care failures identified earlier in the year.

Calls for greater transparency around audits

While audit reports are published online, the federal Health Department only communicates the findings in writing to residents and families if sanctions are in imposed.

May Shaw was not sanctioned, but it wrote to residents and families indicating it was under review.

"Currently we are under review due to two issues of non-compliance. We are striving hard to ensure these be lifted in the near future," it read.

The letter did not explain the non-compliance around clinical care and skin care, or mention the "serious risk" highlighted by the Aged Care Quality Agency.

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Ms Shepherd said more transparency was required.

The nurses union's Emily Shepherd wants the Federal Government to make sure people can have confidence in aged care homes. ( Twitter: ANMF )

"Certainly in relation to accreditation, I think families, residents and staff have the right to understand the accreditation process," she said.

"Any accreditation standards that have not been met, certainly what the provider is doing to address those standards that have not been met, to reassure not only the families but the residents who are living in these facilities to ensure they have confidence going forward."

Julie Collins said notifying people about serious risks and keeping them up to date with developments was incredibly important.

"I'd like people to be able to have the information publicly when facilities don't pass their accreditation, whether there's a minor breach or a major breach and then what the facilities doing to remedy it," she said.

Labor MP Julie Collins said families should be kept up to date with the performance of aged care facilities. ( ABC )

Ms Butler said the current level of communication was not good enough.

"We're paying a phenomenal amount of money to keep our families in what we thought was a safe, comfortable and home-like atmosphere. Personally if there's been an audit and there have been findings I would expect families to be given a certain amount of information," she said.

"We should be made aware of the fact that an audit has occurred and what the results of that audit are, was it sucessful, were there points for improvement, is it something drastic?"

In a statement, Federal Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt said ensuring transparency in aged care information was a top priority and the agency publishes serious risk decisions on its website.

He said audit reports were also published on the agency's website and were easily searchable.

"When sanctions are imposed, the department writes to all residents and their representatives to ensure that they are kept well informed," he said.

May Shaw Swansea buildings ( ABC News: Peter Curtis )

"The department also requests and expects that the provider arranges and conducts a meeting as soon as possible, with care recipients and their nominated representatives, to outline the current situation and the provider's plans for improvement, in order to achieve and maintain compliance."