TriCare Toowoomba aged care residence provides permanent care, services and accommodation to older Australians as its primary purpose. The residence also provides on occasion short-term respite care, and temporary accommodation and care for persons transitioning from hospital.
Residents at TriCare Toowoomba are almost exclusively in their 80s or 90s, and the accommodation, activities and services are targeted at persons in that age bracket.
Ms Kylie Kilroy was admitted to TriCare Toowoomba in July 2020 as a temporary care resident, from the local hospital. Ms Kilroy was admitted under a transition from hospital program. This is a program that is intended to provide short periods of care for residents who transition from hospital to the home.
Ms Kilroy raised some concerns about her care approximately three weeks after her admission to the residence. Ms Kilcoy did not raise these concerns with us. TriCare became aware of these concerns via social media. The residence’s manager immediately met with Ms Kilroy to discuss her concerns and attempt to resolve them with her.
Ms Kilroy, TriCare and the hospital all subsequently agreed that the preferred outcome for Ms Kilroy would be for her to return to the Toowoomba Hospital.
At no stage did TriCare tell Ms Kilroy that she must leave the home or take any action to imply she must leave the home as a result of making any complaints in social media or otherwise. To the contrary, TriCare tried to resolve Ms Kilroy’s concerns with her as soon as they were raised.
TriCare welcomes all resident feedback and we aim to be as responsive to all resident concerns as soon as possible. Ms Kilroy was aware that TriCare had a robust approach to resolving resident concerns. She had on two previous occasions raised concerns with the residence and on both occasions the issues were promptly resolved.
We have investigated the allegations made in relation to the clinical care that was provided to Ms Kilroy. The allegations made are not accurate.
TriCare remains concerned about the allegations made that the food at our home was not of an acceptable standard for our residents. TriCare employs a chef at each aged care residence and we pride ourselves on offering nutritious and tasty meals for all of our residents. We are thoroughly investigating the issues raised to make sure all of the food served at the home is meeting the standards we expect for our residents.
