UPDATE - Full witness list revealed
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A THREE day royal commission hearing into the aged care sector will be held in Mudgee from Monday with the community welcome to come along.
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is making its way around Australia and this will be the only hearing in regional NSW.
While the witness list is yet to be made public, the Mudgee Guardian understands it will include staff from and providers of regional aged care facilities as well as people who have relatives in care.
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It will hear from a woman whose mother lives in aged care in a small community where staff have allegedly been told their shifts will be cut if they raise their concerns about the quality of care.
Lawyers are expected to present a case study to the hearing about Mudgee's Pioneer House and how it responded to sanctions they were given in February 2019.
The Guardian also understands that a panel of home care providers will be called, as will a rural ageing researcher who will speak about innovative approaches that are needed to overcome challenges of aged care service delivery.
The aged care system still fails to support an appropriate quality life.
- Office of the Royal Commission staff
Witnesses from Australian Government Department of Health have also be called.
Ahead of the royal commission's interim report that was delivered late Thursday, the commission's staff criticised the slow and opaque responses by successive federal governments to 18 previous inquiries and reviews into aged care over the past two decades.
"The overarching question that arises is why, after all these reviews, the aged care system still fails to support an appropriate quality life for the most frail and vulnerable members of our community," the Office of the Royal Commission staff concluded.
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The three-day hearing in Mudgee will commence at 10am on Monday, November 4 and continue on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Windamere Room at the Parklands Resort and Conference Centre.
People are urged to arrive early as seating is limited and they must pass through security screening before entering.
For those unable to attend, the hearings will be streamed live on the Royal Commission website.
The royal commission will continue to accept submissions until April 30, 2020.
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