Kathmandu: A nursing assistant has admitted to slapping and pushing elderly patients at a Sydney aged care home, reported 9news.com.
“Asmita Pandey was employed at Estia Health in Epping while in the country on a working visa from Nepal. On one occasion she was witnessed hitting an elderly resident with a shower head, and she boasted in the tea room to colleagues about punching another resident in the face,” 9news reported.
She was arrested last year after her colleagues reported her violent outbursts.
One of her victims was 95-year-old Joan Murray, who has dementia.
“It’s quite confronting to get a phone call that’s telling you that someone that you’ve placed into a care situation has been mistreated in such a way,” her daughter said.
The family of Therzina Morrison said the great-grandmother has never been the same, while another alleged victim – Rita Ball – suffered bruising so severe she was hospitalised.
“It’s absolutely appalling, she weighs 43 kilos, she’s asleep,” daughter Robyn Ball said. “If it hadn’t been for the witnesses coming forward she’d probably still be perpetrating it and carrying out these assaults on the older residents,” another victim’s family member said outside court today.
Estia Health’s Chief Executive Officer Sean Bilton apologised in a statement today “The safety and wellbeing of our residents is our foremost priority,” Bilton said. “We do not tolerate any form of abuse or mistreatment of our residents.” Bilton said Estia Health informed the police, Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, and spoke to families of the victims as soon as they knew about the allegations.
“We immediately stood down the employee and then terminated their employment contract,” he said. “This distressing matter is now reaching its conclusion and our thoughts are with our residents and their families.”
Pandey–who is now pregnant–is currently banned from working in healthcare. She will be sentenced in March.
Source:9news.com
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