The head of the Earle Haven nursing home admits failings but claims government auditors were ‘anti-Semitic’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The boss of a Gold Coast aged care facility where more than half the high-care residents were malnourished before it closed has said he is “fed up” and is getting out of aged care.

Arthur Miller admitted to a Queensland parliamentary hearing on Friday that he was not up to the task of managing the high-care facility at his Earle Haven centre, which closed suddenly on 11 July, effectively leaving 69 residents homeless.

He said he did not “feel very happy” about his questioning at the hearing.

“I will not run aged care any more,” Miller said.

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Miller had been asked why he had not read a report emailed to him about the facility when he went overseas amid concerns about care at the home. He accused public servants who audited the home of being anti-Semitic.

Earle Haven went into administration in July after a payment dispute came to a head.

The hearing has been told of a decade of repeated regulatory failures. Miller was read reports on the facility’s failures from 2007, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

The hearing was told that in the lead-up to the closure, 63% of the high-care residents were malnourished and the rest were at risk of malnutrition.

When it was put to Miller that he was not up to the task of running the high-care section at Earle Haven, he said: “That’s correct.”

Asked why it took so long to find a subcontractor to run it, Miller said he had not been able to find the right provider.

“All that time I was planning to do that, but I didn’t because I couldn’t find a suitable provider,” Miller said.

The hearing was told of concerns from the federal regulator about drinks being placed out of reach of thirsty patients.

The regulator said that staff did not manage continence properly or have adequate behaviour management skills.

Miller had to be kept on-topic by counsel assisting the inquiry, Ruth O’Gorman, as he spoke of people in the home “loving him”.

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He also mentioned disputes with public servants and “disgraceful” news reports on the closure of the high-care units within the larger Earle Haven retirement home.

He told the inquiry his wife, a highly qualified nurse, had been a director at the aged care facility from 2001 but in 2007 she became very sick and stopped working. She died in 2012.

Miller has been the sole director since.

He was giving evidence to the inquiry after twice postponing for health reasons.

More than 100 medical staff, including paramedics, were called in to help when the 69 high-care residents were effectively left without a home.

The inquiry finished on Friday, with a report due in October.