CANBERRA, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- A landmark inquiry into Australia's aged care sector has heard that the system is in need of a fundamental overhaul.
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety on Thursday began hearing final submissions from legal counsel on how to reform the system.
Lawyers Peter Rozen and Peter Gray made 124 recommendations for fundamental redesign of the sector.
In their 500-page submission, they revealed that at least 20 percent of aged care residents in Australia are neglected.
Rozen told the commission that survey data had found that sexual abuse of residents was far more prevalent than previously thought.
He said the estimated number of incidents of "unlawful sexual contact" in 2018-19 was 2,520, or almost 50 per week.
"This is a national shame," he noted. "The weight of the evidence before the commission supports a finding that high quality aged care is not being delivered on a systemic level in our system and the level of substandard care is unacceptable by any measure."
The recommendations largely focus on giving elderly Australians the option to receive care at home rather than enter care facilities.
"We recognize that the vast majority of people that need care will want to receive it in their own home," Gray said, noting, "It is a powerful message and one that we have heard."
The submission called for better pay for aged care staff and a minimum of one registered nurse to be on site at aged care homes throughout the day.
It said that elderly Australians find the system "time-consuming, overwhelming, frightening and intimidating."
"Ageist beliefs partly explain the poor communication and coordination within the system, particularly unkind and disrespectful communication," the submission said.
"It deprives those people - grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, fathers - of their humanity," it noted.
The recommendations will be considered by the royal commission before it hands its final report to the government on Feb. 26, 2021. Enditem