This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A Sydney aged-care worker has been filmed allegedly assaulting an 82-year-old resident, hitting the man with a shoe and shoving and dragging him while trying to remove his clothes.

The 35-year-old man has been charged over the abuse at the home on Sydney's northern beaches, in a incident police have described as “disgraceful”.

“These vulnerable people need the community's help to be their voice,” Superintendent David Darcy said in a statement.

The footage allegedly shows the worker repeatedly hitting the resident of the Seaforth facility with a shoe and shoving him.

He is also seen dragging the man on to the bed and pulling him by his shirt.

Police arrested the employee at the Sydney suburb of Wheeler Heights on Wednesday.

He has been charged with two counts of domestic violence-related common assault and use of an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence.

The man was granted condition bail to appear at Manly local court on 11 September.

Bupa, which owns the care home, said it was “shocked and saddened” by the incident and takes the safety and wellbeing of its residents seriously.

“The employee in question has been dismissed, and we are cooperating fully with NSW police,” a spokesman said in a statement. “As this is a police matter, we cannot provide further comment at this time.”

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It comes as the Australian Medical Association warned that elder abuse was likely to rise as Australia's population ages.

The AMA president, Tony Bartone, said with more people suffering chronic, complex medical conditions, extra pressure was being put on an already underfunded aged care system.

“Increasingly, residential aged care facilities are relying on lesser-trained personal care assistants instead of registered and enrolled nurses,” he said on Thursday.

“As Australia’s population ages, and without resourcing for enough appropriately trained staff, and education for carers and health workers to identify and prevent elder abuse, neglect and abuse of older people – whether accidental or intentional – is likely to increase.”

The federal government is funding a national study to look at the prevalence of elder abuse across the country.