MELBOURNE, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Premature and preventable deaths in Australia's aged care system have soared 400 percent in a decade, a study has found.
The study, published by Monash University on Monday, found that the deaths of 3,300 elderly in Australian nursing homes from 2000 to 2013 were preventable.
Researchers found that choking, falls and suicide were the most common cause of preventable deaths among the elderly in care facilities.
Joseph Ibrahim, the lead author of the study, said that of 21,672 deaths of nursing home residents that were referred to a coroner in the period researched, 3,289, or 15.2 percent, were found to be caused by external or preventable causes.
He said that 81.5 percent of those deaths were from falls while 7.9 percent were due to choking and almost 5 percent of preventable deaths were suicides.
Ibrahim called for a national strategy to reduce unnecessary harm and deaths in nursing homes.
"Professionals from governments and the nursing home sector should develop strategies for preventing these deaths and establish a lead authority, responsible for reducing harm by improving practice in nursing homes," Ibrahim said in a media release on Monday.
"Currently no one entity is responsible for reducing harm by improving practice.
"Improving the quality of care for nursing home residents requires a better understanding of how, why, where and when they die. The global population is ageing rapidly, and the need for aged care services is consequently increasing."
Researchers said that improved reporting and greater scrutiny of deaths was partly responsible for the 400 percent spike but they still believe the number was an understatement of the real extent of the problem.
"With this study we have our first real understanding of how many deaths are occurring in nursing homes that shouldn't be happening," Ibrahim said.
"However, there is a paucity of information about the cause and manner of premature deaths of nursing home residents from which we can review how these operations are run."
