The crimes of the provider Afford against the vulnerable and the slackness of the NDIS Quality and SAfety Commission exposed at the Royal Commission...Afford Disabilities must get its just desserts…punishment to them - for its treatment of those less fortunate than the employers and employees living it up on the money they got from their clients who did not even get the respectful care they were meant to be getting…
This week is the Royal Commission’s investigation into Afford Disabilities – the same Afford where Merna Aprem died at one of their houses, and her name often mentioned in the hearings of this investigation. All kudos to Tanya, Merna’s mother for standing up for her daughter and being at the Royal Commission hearings she has been through so much grief losing her precious child, too much grief. This must be vindicated.
I attended one day of the hearings and finally met dear Tanya. This Wednesday on the day of my writing the NDIS is going to Federal Court against the Afford Disabilities organization for the death of Merna. She should not have died in the bath left alone back then in 2019 with her bathroom door locked. All parents and people know this is wrong. Yet it took NDIS two and a half years to take Afford to Court or to even investigate. Perhaps they were hoping sleeping dogs would lie but the only sleeping dog is the NDIS quality commission itself which seems to refuse to do anything concrete against any providers except to talk about it. They are a sleeping dog. Perhaps someone needs to stand on their tail and wake them up. That someone often has to be the Media and because Merna’s death and her story has been so much in the media that finally action has started to be taken due to her mother Tanya sticking to her guns and putting forward her daughters story and her loss of her daughter – who will never be forgotten – a tragedy of loss – telling it to the media so that it would not go away from those who are disabilities providers, Afford, the NDIS and the rest.
Noted in a news article by Archenza and Iaria 17 May 2022 from News.com
“It was also alleged Afford executives created a culture of lavish spending and splurged on “extravagant functions”.“It was reported … executives with Afford created a culture of excessive spending for staff and employees on matters unrelated to the care of participants,” NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission registrar Samantha Taylor said in a statement to the inquiry.
Those investigations remain ongoing, while a preliminary hearing is due to get underway in the Federal Court on Wednesday against Afford over the death of Merna Aprem. Ms Aprem, an NDIS participant, died in 2019 when she drowned in a bathtub while living in supported accommodation operated by Afford in Woodbine, Sydney.
It’s the first civil penalty proceeding brought by the NDIS Commission, which regulates services provided to people with disability under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.”
Finally, the NDIS is going to court against Afford Disabilities as the Commissioner said to the Secretary of the NDIS quality commission – what took you so long? Well they were investigating their own provider for actually a crime – it should have been done independently. Maybe the NDIS quality commission were hoping it would go away. No not this time. Nor should it ever.
Noted in article (News.com 17 May 2022) that During the royal commission hearing on Tuesday, chair Ronald Sackville questioned Ms Taylor about why it had taken two-and-a-half years for the NDIS Commission to launch the court case. Ms Taylor responded the investigation had to be “incredibly thorough”. “It was an extremely high priority matter,” she said.
Oh please. If Merna’s case was high priority, then why was it left for two and a half years? It was such a tragic terrible case they did not want to address it is more like it. Did they not want to get their provider in trouble – even after a death of a young person in their care…and just let it drag out. Even Anne Marie smith who died in 2020 due to gross negligence and the worker charged with manslaughter, had her case investigated straightaway.
Merna’s case on the other hand was left as if they were not going to do anything about it. Here’s hoping was their motto perhaps. Now NDIS looks negligent itself by its slowness to act which is exactly how they are with all incidents of abuse or neglect – they use bureaucracy to say they can do nothing about it. Its all wearing thin now for parents and about time the NDIS quality commission did something other then pay themselves for avoiding dealing abuse by their providers against participants. How slack they have been yes to the point of neglect of those who come to them for help from incidents of harm permeating the Disabilities system. 7000 incidents against those with disabilities reported to the Quality Commission last year and no prosecutions.
Another terrible case exposed at the Royal Commission - it was brought to light that a man in respite care was washed down with a hose by the workers after he soiled himself at the respite house - The quality commission again slow to move to talk about it…
“Another investigation was launched in the wake of Ms Aprem’s case, following a complaint of an NDIS participant about his treatment.
“He alleges he was hosed down like a dog after soiling himself while receiving respite services,” Ms Taylor said in her statement.
The allegation had not yet been determined,but was among a group of matters considered to be of concern about “systemic issues that warranted our investigation”, she told the inquiry.”
Get on to it Ms Taylor and stop delaying and smoothing over the situation! She sounds like the typical CEO watered down insipid response comments to any incident. No person should be treated like this man was – a vulnerable disability person – yet the Secretary of the Quality and Safety commission Ms Taylor talks about it as a systemic issue when the issue is that Afford Disabilities has hurt and degraded its clients because the workers are not trained or just don’t care and because Afford just wants the money and has neglected those it was supposed to care for. Systemic? It is the people at the top and the people working in the organization and the systemic problem with the NDIS is that it does nothing to stop these things happening. Yes systemic issues are the problem with NDIS commission who investigates something that is part of their system. There should be an independent investigation and I am glad that the Royal Commission exists to do that.
all the best
Anndrea x
sign my petition and push for changes in disabilities programs and care and cctv to deterr offenders and harm against our vulnerable children
change.org/disabilitycameras