NSW aged care staff rated for how they run nursing homes

Aged care residents in NSW have revealed how their homes are run, including whether they think staff know what they’re doing. Search the list and see how they compare.

Staff at an aged care home in one of Sydney’s most affluent suburbs have been given the lowest rating by their own residents when it comes to knowing what they are doing.

More than 37,400 residents – or one in five of the aged care population – living across 2,689 residential aged care homes across the country took part in a survey conducted by an independent team.

They were asked questions developed with the help of La Trobe University’s Lincoln Centre for Research on Ageing on whether staff know what they are doing and whether the “place” was well run.

At least 10 per cent – and up to 20 per cent – of residents from each facility were surveyed.

For the question, ‘Do staff know what they are doing?’ Bupa Mosman in Sydney’s affluent north shore received a rating of 2.15 out of 4, the lowest in the country.

More than one in five (23 per cent) of those surveyed at the Mosman home said staff never knew what they were doing, while 38 per cent said they knew ‘some of the time’, according to the My Aged Care website.

Aged care residents have rated their nursing homes.

More than half said they felt the place was well run ‘some of the time’ or ‘never’.

While 15 per cent said staff ‘never’ followed up with things, while 46 per cent said they only followed up ‘some of the time’.

Across the country residents marked the majority of homes highly when it came to whether staff treated them with respect and whether they felt safe, with only a few homes receiving a rating of less than 3.

A spokeswoman from Bupa Mosman said they were “disappointed that six residents were unhappy with the level of service provided when the survey was completed in July 2022, and we’ve been working hard to improve and deal with any specific issues since then”.

She said Bupa Mosman’s own survey in December, which is open to all residents and their relatives, found 97 per cent of respondents believed “team members know what they are doing, all of, or most of the time”.

Bupa Mosman was also successfully re-accredited by the watchdog in January.

News Corp has compiled a searchable table using results of the residents’ experience survey from last year so people can see where their aged home rates on a number of key questions.

It comes as this year’s independent survey of residents is currently underway and needs to be submitted by October.

Bupa Aged Care in Mosman. Picture: Supplied

One question, ‘Do you feel at home?’ was asked last year, with 979 homes receiving a score of less than 3.

This year that question has changed to, ‘How likely are you to recommend this residential aged care home to someone?’.

Independent aged care consultant Paul Sadler said this survey was the most “comprehensive we’ve got” on what residents think.

He said while there had been a mixed response to the Star Ratings overall the majority of homes were quite happy.

The Department of Health and Aged Care said surveys are undertaken by an independent workforce, which use a global best practice quantitative research methodology. The results of the survey contribute 33 per cent to a facility’s overall Star Ratings.

Ainslie House in Sussex Inlet, Calvary St Paul’s Retirement Community in Cundleton, Grace Munro Centre in Bundarra, Kurrajong & District Community Nursing Home, Prunus Lodge in Molong, RFBI West Wyalong Masonic Village and Yeoval Community Nursing Home, all received a perfect score of 4.

*Some centres who did not submit their survey results in time are not included in the list.

‘MONEY IS BEING SPENT LEFT, RIGHT AND CENTRE’

A partially blind man in his 90s fears he and others like him could be forced into aged care homes because Home Care Package providers are charging exorbitant hourly fees for things like cleaners and carers.

Oscar Tamsen said because the basics cost so much, he can’t afford the extra medical treatment he needs, and feared the situation will eventually force him into a home.

“The system is a total failure,” Mr Tamsen, a former foreign correspondent, said.

“Money is being [spent] left, right and centre.”

Mr Tamsen said his Home Care provider, Uniting, charges $67.90 to $73.20 an hour for basic house cleaning, compared with $30-40 an hour for a commercial cleaner.

A registered nurse costs him between $107.50 and $115.90 on weekdays.

Registered Nurses receive between $36.37 and $46.29 an hour according to Uniting Care’s NSW enterprise agreement.

On top of that, Uniting is upping its management fees for Mr Tamsen this year to $9,187.20, an increase of $1,263, which comes out of his annual budget of $36,225.

A supplied image of Oscar Tamsen, who lives in Yamba.

Mr Tamsen said if he was to add his management fee to his annual cleaning costs, it pushes the hourly cost of his cleaner to $103.33.

“According to the Australian Association of Actuaries’ 2022 report, my hourly cleaning charge combined with management fees is vastly more than the $79 average hourly income of medical general practitioners in Australia and the average hourly income of solicitors at $99,” he said.

Mr Tamsen, from Yamba in northern NSW – who has eaten a meal with Nelson Mandela, attended Grace Kelly’s wedding and went on a safari with Charlie Chaplin – was shot in the eye while working in the Congo and was left partially blinded. He suffered a stroke in 2017.

He said ideally he should be having daily massages for neuropathy to help with his mobility, rather than his current three sessions a week.

“This situation will force me in the long term to go into nursing accommodation,” he said. “It’s totally working against itself.”

A Uniting NSW. ACT spokesman said its hourly rates cover costs directly related to providing clients’ care or services, including staff labour, travel, PPE and the recovery of the cost of business overheads.

“A workforce shortage and the burden of Covid has also led to soaring costs for overtime and agency staff,” the spokesman said.

“Unfortunately, every year the gap between what it costs to deliver care and what is funded grows wider.”

He added that Uniting is one of highest payers of aged care workers in the sector and as a not-for-profit any profit made is used to enhance and develop the services.

Originally published as NSW aged care staff rated for how they run nursing homes