Troubling restraint use at shut aged home

Elderly residents were being physically restrained and given psychotropic drugs in "troubling" numbers shortly before a Queensland retirement home suddenly closed.

Half of the residents at the Earle Haven Retirement Village were being physically restrained and 71 per cent were receiving psychotropic medication.

The figures were revealed in a report by aged care quality commission staff who visited the Gold Coast facility on June 25, shortly before its July 11 closure.

Counsel assisting the aged care royal commission Paul Bolster said the psychotropic medication was one thing, but the amount of physical restraint was even more troubling.

The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission's Ann Wunsch agreed it was a very troubling number.

"It's an unacceptable level," the executive director for quality assessment and monitoring told the royal commission's Brisbane hearing on Thursday.

Ms Wunsch said the 71 per cent figure for the use of psychotropic medication was at the very high end.

"I have seen examples where that percentage has been in reports for services that have predominantly consumers with mental health or other complex care needs, but that's a very high number."

Ms Wunsch said there was enough information in the report, which she read after the events of July 11, to raise concerns.

"I was concerned about the use of restraint in that service."

Ms Wunsch said the next step was to seek further information from the approved provider before deciding any regulatory action, a process that was ongoing.

The federal health department has sanctioned the approved provider People Care over Earle Haven, but it and the quality commission are still investigating and deciding on further regulatory action.

The shutdown and emergency evacuation of 69 residents was sparked by a dispute between People Care and subcontractor HelpStreet, which managed the residential care facilities.

Senior counsel assisting the royal commission Peter Gray QC on Wednesday said People Care should have been managed out of the sector in 2017 given abundant evidence about its unsuitability as an approved provider.

The federal health department sanctioned People Care in 2016 and 2017, but did not revoke its approval because an administrator was appointed and it returned to compliance with quality standards.

Ms Wunsch said the quality agency maintained a regulatory approach in 2017 that was commensurate to its understanding of People Care's current risk.

"In our compliance monitoring work we came to a view that that service was then, at the end of that period, meeting standards."

Advocates on Thursday highlighted the lack of focus on human rights in the aged care system, a concern shared by Victorian aged care resident Beverley Johnson.

"Anyone in the community should have a right as to how you're treated," the 83-year-old told the inquiry via video link.

"Residents, it would appear, once they pass through the front door of the facility, give up that right and that's not correct.

"We still have that right to have our say and to live life according to the way we would like."