Residents’ families have met with a law firm to investigate the facility in regional VIC (167 kilometres east of the Melbourne CBD), which was sanctioned for a second time last month after being found to have breached sections of all four government accreditation standards.
A lawyer from NSW-based Schofield King Lawyers, Melissa Obrist, used social media to organise a meeting with 12 families to discuss possible legal action against the provider – according to The Latrobe Valley Express.
A class action would require seven or more clients making a claim, but Ms Obrist said they “should not be disappointed” if the group lawsuit doesn’t go ahead, saying: “If you hit Bupa with individual claims, they will have same effects.”
Ms Obrist has advised families they could claim for any of the following:
- Neglect and abuse;
- Dependency claims if a resident had passed away;
- Mental harm and nervous shock for families seeing a loved one pass away;
- Breach of contract; and
- Overcharging of medications that were not provided to residents
Traralgon is one of nine Bupa facilities across the country to be sanctioned by ACQSC in the last 12 months. Several of its homes (including the Eden, Traralgon and Seaforth sites) have been sanctioned or found to be non-compliant more than once.
We reached out to Bupa for comment on this story. Their spokesperson told The Daily COMMISSION:
“We are working hard to fix things at Bupa Traralgon and the care of our residents is Bupa’s main focus . . . We are sorry some things at the home are still not up to the standards we expect or those set by regulator, and we are working through this with the regulator, our residents, their families and our staff.”
“Bupa regrets there are families who remain unhappy with the care provided to their family members who were in our home . . . We won’t be commenting on speculated legal action.”
