{"id":2357,"date":"2019-04-17T20:45:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T20:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=2357"},"modified":"2019-04-17T20:45:46","modified_gmt":"2019-04-17T20:45:46","slug":"bupa-aged-care-in-court-for-alleged-misrepresentations-about-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2019\/04\/17\/bupa-aged-care-in-court-for-alleged-misrepresentations-about-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Bupa Aged Care in Court for alleged misrepresentations about services"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"content-title\"><\/section>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<section class=\"content-body\">\n<div class=\"region region-content\">\n<section id=\"block-system-main\" class=\"block block-system clearfix\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<article id=\"node-83325\" class=\"node node-news-release node-full clearfix\">\n<div class=\"field field-name-field-accc-mr-release-date field-type-datetime field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court alleging Bupa Aged Care Australia Pty Ltd (Bupa) made false or misleading representations to its aged care residents in 21 homes about services it did not provide or only partly provided, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden\">\n<div class=\"field-items\">\n<div class=\"field-item even\">\nBetween December 2007 and June 2018, Bupa charged thousands of residents at 21 aged care homes across the country a fee for a package of extra services. The ACCC alleges that it did not provide, or only partly provided, some of these services. The fees for the extra services package often amounted to thousands of dollars each year.<br \/>\nThe extra services were set out in residential agreements with residents. Services not provided included:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018smart room\u2019 systems to assist those living with dementia,<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 air-conditioning in all bedrooms,<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 covered outdoor exercise areas,<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 large talking book libraries,<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 tactile and sensory walkways,<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 fully equipped physiotherapy rooms,<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 separate leisure activity spaces,<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 hot breakfasts, and<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 travel escorts for outside appointments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cWe allege that Bupa failed to provide or fully provide various extra services promised in residential agreements, but charged for them anyway,\u201d ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.<br \/>\n\u201cIn some cases the alleged misleading representations related to services that were significant to the quality of life of elderly residents. The promised services were likely also what attracted many residents and their families to choose Bupa.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cMisrepresentations in the aged care sector are particularly concerning, because unlike many other services, it\u2019s often difficult for elderly residents to move to another provider,\u201d Mr Sims said.<br \/>\n\u201cThe ACCC continues to tackle consumer issues faced by vulnerable and disadvantaged consumers as an enforcement and compliance priority in 2019, including for consumers such as elderly people with significant healthcare needs.\u201d<br \/>\nBupa conducted an internal investigation and is offering compensation to affected residents. Residents and their families are encouraged to review the information on Bupa\u2019s compensation program which can be found on\u00a0<a class=\"ext\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bupaagedcare.com.au\/getting-started\/aged-care-costs\/extra-services\">Bupa\u2019s website<\/a>.<br \/>\nThe ACCC is seeking injunctions, declarations, pecuniary penalties and other orders.<br \/>\nThe ACCC commenced its investigation after Bupa notified it of the conduct. Bupa has not admitted the conduct contravenes the ACL.<br \/>\n<strong>Background<\/strong>:<br \/>\nSince 2007 Bupa has operated 78 aged care facilities in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Queensland, and Tasmania with over 6,700 residents. The ACCC\u2019s proceedings relate to the following 21 aged care facilities that offered extra services to residents:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Bankstown, NSW<\/li>\n<li>Banora Point, NSW<\/li>\n<li>Berry, NSW<\/li>\n<li>Dural, NSW<\/li>\n<li>Mosman, NSW<\/li>\n<li>Queens Park, NSW<\/li>\n<li>Sutherland, NSW<\/li>\n<li>Tamworth, NSW<\/li>\n<li>\u00a0Roseville, NSW<\/li>\n<li>Willoughby, NSW<\/li>\n<li>Berwick, VIC<\/li>\n<li>Bonbeach, VIC<\/li>\n<li>Caulfield, VIC<\/li>\n<li>Coburg, VIC<\/li>\n<li>Croydon, VIC<\/li>\n<li>Donvale, VIC<\/li>\n<li>Greensborough, VIC<\/li>\n<li>Glenvale, QLD<\/li>\n<li>New Farm, QLD<\/li>\n<li>South Hobart, TAS<\/li>\n<li>Baulkham Hills, NSW<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>A full list of the extra services which the ACCC alleges were not provided (or were only provided in part) by Bupa in one or more of the affected facilities is provided below.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"accc_document accc_document_node_ \">\u00a0<span class=\"accc-document-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.accc.gov.au\/system\/files\/List%20of%20allegedly%20affected%20Bupa%20aged%20care%20homes.PDF\">List of allegedly affected Bupa aged care homes<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.accc.gov.au\/system\/files\/List%20of%20allegedly%20affected%20Bupa%20aged%20care%20homes.PDF\">PDF 398.84 KB\u00a0<\/a>)<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The ACCC has instituted proceedings in the Federal Court alleging Bupa Aged Care Australia Pty Ltd (Bupa) made false or misleading representations to its aged care residents in 21 homes about services it did not provide or only partly provided, in breach of the Australian Consumer Law. Between December 2007 and June 2018, Bupa charged &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2019\/04\/17\/bupa-aged-care-in-court-for-alleged-misrepresentations-about-services\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Bupa Aged Care in Court for alleged misrepresentations about services&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}