The Federal Court has ordered aged care provider Bupa to pay $6 million in penalties and millions more in refunds for residents who paid thousands of dollars a year for services they never received.
Key points:
- The ACCC identified 95 extra services from Bupa across 20 aged care homes, some of which were never provided
- Some residents paid for golf trips, travel escorts, and air conditioning but never received the service
- Bupa began its $18.4 million redress scheme in 2018 and has paid out $14.1 million so far
The ACCC pursued Bupa for misleading and false representations to aged care residents for extra services the regulator said were not provided in full, if at all.
The consumer watchdog targeted 20 Bupa aged care homes in the case: 10 in New South Wales, seven in Victoria, two in Queensland and one in Tasmania.
The ACCC argued the company offered packages which were supposed to include a range of extra services including air conditioning in all rooms, travel escorts for residents who wanted to le