What is aged care like on the Gold Coast? Worker blows whistle ahead of Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety findings
It’s a vital part of the Gold Coast but new data reveals one giant hole in plans to address the issue. FIND OUT ALL THE DETAILS
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AGED care waiting lists have blown out on the Gold Coast, with more than 1300 elderly or infirm locals still waiting for home care support from the Federal Government.
According to the latest figures from the Department of Health, sourced by Labor Senator Murray Watt, there are 1346 locals who have been approved for home care but have not received funding to enable them to live independently at home. Included in this figure is 165 locals who need the highest level of care offered.
“Leaving people without adequate care is a disaster waiting to happen,” said Gold Coast-based Senator Watt, speaking from Earle Haven Retirement Village in Nerang on Monday morning.
In 2019, 69 vulnerable pensioners were removed from the Nerang aged care facility in the middle of cold winter’s night after a contract dispute went wrong.
AVERAGE WAGES ACROSS THE GOLD COAST REVEALED
It comes after release of the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was made public on Monday afternoon.
“The fact that there are still nearly 100,000 older Australians, including 1346 Gold Coasters, waiting for care that they need now, that they have been approved for, is outrageous,” said Senator Watt.
Home care packages were designed to help older Australians avoid unnecessarily entering aged care homes by providing help at home instead.
“This failure means Gold Coasters and their families can’t plan for the future. It’s not fair or reasonable that people in their 90s with a terminal illness are having to wait two years for a home care package. The government needs to do more, and it needs to do it quickly.”
On the release of the Royal Commission’s finding, Mr Watt said the Federal Government needed to take much faster action on recommendations than it took on the interim findings in 2019.
Mr Watt said the Prime Minister had to step up and take control of the aged care system and treat people as they should be treated.
“I don’t know how many warnings it’s going to take this Federal Government before they fix the aged care system,” he said.
“You want to have confidence that the system works, that people aren’t going to be neglected. “There’s just been too many horror stories of people with maggots coming out of wounds, of people not getting the medical attention they need, not being bathed as regularly as they should.
“No one wants to see their relative go through that and unfortunately it’s happening far too often.”
‘NO WAY I’D PUT MY FAMILY IN CARE’ – Feb 26, 2021
“THERE is no way I would ever put my family into an aged care facility,” says a Gold Coast aged care worker fed up with how governments have allowed the elderly to be treated behind closed doors.
It comes as the final report by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is due to be handed to the Federal Government on Friday, and nearly two years after the Earle Haven nursing home debacle that saw 69 vulnerable pensioners suddenly taken from their Gold Coast residence in the middle of night after a contract dispute went wrong.
“When I first started 10 years ago the people arriving into care wouldn’t necessarily need their toileting and showers done, but they are living at home for longer now and only coming into residential care when they are really high needs,” said the worker, who did not to be named.
“So now we have to assist with almost every single need, even feeding every meal to them.”
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She said residents often soiled themselves or fell while attempting to get out of bed waiting for a staff member already attending to another person, and that the aged care system was outdated and needed a major overhaul that included surprise visits to aged care residences and a higher patient-to-staff ratio.
“It’s very chaotic, you really need good time management skills to get through the day otherwise it’s disastrous for staff and residents,” she said.
“We’re not neglectful but we’ve just got so much to do, including at my facility making meals and doing the laundry.
“They’re getting us to do more and more tasks and by doing that we don’t have the time to even chat with them as we shower them.
“Residents are becoming institutionalised because they’re in such a routine because of what we're having to do just to get through the shift each day. And when we’re held up for a few minutes it’s very distressing for them.
“It’s their home and they shouldn’t have to wait, we should have the time to care for them properly. At times we genuinely can’t get it all done, but we try our hardest.”
She said since COVID most residents did the same thing every day, watch TV in bed, because staff were tied up with extra cleaning and COVID restrictions had put a stop to families visiting or trips out.
“It depends on what kind of day they are having or if their health changes, but often they tell us ‘I just wish I’d die, I’ve had enough’. The more high care needs they are the less dignity they have.
“We don’t do it for the money, in fact I think we’d be paid more if we were stacking shelves at Coles, but we do it because we care.”
Meanwhile, the United Workers Union (UWU) has called for a “big picture” overhaul after a survey of 3000 workers, including 700 from Queensland, found that four-in-five aged care staff felt older Australians were not getting the quality care they deserved because of understaffing.
It also said that heavy workloads were affecting care and safety, with 51 per cent of workers saying residents faced an unfilled shift every day.
UWU aged care director Carolyn Smith said workers wanted aged care residents to be guaranteed a certain amount of care time so they can meet the quality care needs of older Australians.
“This survey shows older Australians are not being kept safe in aged care,” she said.
“Under-staffing, heavy workloads and insecure jobs mean older Australians are not getting the care they need and deserve.
“Aged care workers know it’s time to change aged care, because older Australians, their families and aged care workers deserve dignity and respect.”
Originally published as What is aged care like on the Gold Coast? Worker blows whistle ahead of Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety findings
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