The latest bit of news out of the facility is that rapid and positive progress is being made around accreditation and standards compliance.

Three weeks into the takeover by Respect, Cooinda aged care home received an accreditation visit by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission.

According to a release to the Lithgow Mercury from Cooinda, the accreditors were keen to see an action plan to full compliance, however they were shocked to see the amount of progress made in such a short timeframe, with Respect not only developing the road map, but rectifying 23 of the standards that had not been met at the last visit.

Earlier this year the Commissioner decided not to renew the home's accreditation beyond April 16, 2021 after it failed 38 of 42 industry standards.

Following the announcement that Respect would step in at the last moment, the sanctions were temporarily lifted. Following the significant compliance improvement in the latest audit the home has been re-accredited until January 2023.

Respect CEO and Managing Director Jason Binder was 'extremely proud' and full of praise for the team including Zeina Ormond, the new General Manager of Cooinda.

"Our operations team, and staff at Cooinda have done a tremendous amount of work, and it is a testament to them that they were able to overturn 23 of the not-mets in only three weeks," he said.

"The assessors from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission were quite stunned by the progress, but whilst I'm proud, I'm not surprised. The Respect operations team is probably the most experienced, committed and down to earth team you'll find in any aged care provider in the country.

"They have spent enormous amounts of time and effort at Cooinda, and with the addition of Zeina who is an exceptional General Manager and now based full-time locally, and a good group of staff, I'm not surprised at the progress.

"The challenge now is to rectify the remaining not-met standards, many have already been rectified in the time between the visit and the report, and I'm sure we'll be fully compliant by the next unannounced visit and look forward to slotting Cooinda in the normal three year accreditation cycle."

General Manager Zeina Ormond, was glowing in her praise for the team, "Especially the efforts of Care Manager Aleisha Martin who has also worked tirelessly to ensure the home overturned the accreditation issues".

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