COVER STORY Can we put the ‘care’ back into aged care?

The Interim Report of the Aged Care Royal Commission, which was released at the end of October, is both an indictment of our society’s treatment of the aged and infirm, and a call to arms to fix the deep deficiencies revealed in the course of the royal commission’s investigations. There have been many complaints about mistreatment of residents in aged-care facilities over the years, but there does not seem to have been a particular incident that triggered the formation of this royal commission. Rather, it seems to have been established not long after Scott Morrison became Prime Minister to rebut…