Damning report highlights understaffing in aged care

SOUTHERN Downs aged care homes are chronically understaffed, according to a new report by the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union.

The Queensland Nurse and Midwives Union said Southern Downs'' aged care homes are understaffed. Picture: FredFroese

THE Southern Downs' aged care homes are chronically understaffed, according to a report by the Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union.

An audit of 83 private and public aged care homes across the state found they all failed to provide the recommended 4.3 hours of care per day per person.

The Maranoa electorate, which includes the Southern Downs, averaged about 2.75 hours.

Nurses and health workers were asked about their experience and workload.

About two thirds of Queensland's aged care residents were not bathed properly and often went a few days with out a shower, while another two thirds were not moved often enough, increasing the risk of bed sores.

The union's local organiser Helen Anderson works with nurses across the Darling Downs, covering an area from Nanango in the north to Stanthorpe in the south.

She said figures were damning and reflective of conditions across her jurisdiction with aged care homes short-staffed and more than half were critically understaffed.

However, she was keen to highlight the top performers.

"I work at The Oaks in Warwick and we have very little to no problem there,” Mrs Anderson said.

"The ratios of staff to patients are brilliant and it has large number of registered nurses and enrolled nurses.”

But, the Oaks is run by Queensland Health and operates under strict staffing rules where patient ratios are required to stay between 5:1 and 4:1.

Mrs Anderson said in the private sector there were no such rules.

"In private aged care that can be 20:1,” Mrs Anderson said.

The QNMU report pointed to trend in private care where operators reduce registered nurse numbers in favour of 'personal care' workers or assistants-in-nursing.

Mrs Anderson said these under-qualified workers were good at the grunt work of care, but were not trained to identify serious problems or understand issues around medication.

"I respect what they do, but they don't know what they are looking at,” she said.

"They can't identify a respiratory or heart illness, or if someone has fallen, they can't tell if something broken.”

Mrs Anderson said it was common in Darling Downs private aged care for there be no registered nurse rostered on overnight.

"We have vulnerable elderly people who have fallen, they break or fracture a bone and it's not picked up until early the next morning when a registered nurse comes on shift.”

Warwick's Akooramak aged care home CEO Darryl Chapman said he ensured a registered nurse was always on shift.

"In our organisation, over a 70 per cent of our staff wages is for direct care,” he said.

"At the present time (we are not under-staffed), we are maintaining our roster of registered and enrolled nurses.”

Mr Chapman conceded maintaining such levels was not easy, given the skills shortage in Warwick.

In an effort to maintain staff levels, the community-run centre pays above the award rate and supports employees with leave and financial help toward nursing qualifications, Mr Chapman said.

By Mrs Anderson's assessment, Killarney Memorial Aged Care offers a model other private centres should follow.

"They are brilliant, their staff is made up of plenty of registered and enrolled nurses and its staff ratio is 1:7.

"For private aged care that is phenomenal.”

Short staffing can be the result of a number of factors, including pay and working conditions, skill shortages and tight-fisted management decisions.

Locally, Mrs Anderson said the skill shortage was a big contributor and said it would get worse before it got better.

The Churches of Christ's Regency Park will add 128 beds to the Warwick pool and residents will need healthcare workers.

Mrs Anderson said this would further stretch skilled staff numbers.

"Every centre I go to, they are all telling me the same thing - there are not enough nurses to go around,” she said.

QNMU's aged care audit findings include:

77 per cent of aged care staff were not nurses

80 per cent of workers said understaffing forced residents to wait longer than they should for help

80.5 per cent said staff levels were unsafe at their facility

68 per cent said they did not have enough time to properly clean residents.

60.9 per cent said residents were not being walked as often as required

62.2 per cent not enough time to turn residents increasing likelihood of bed sores and ulcers.

55 per cent said staff were not replaced when they couldn't come to work.

57 per cent said they did not have enough time to properly feed residents.

57.3 per cent said dangerous understaffing lead to increased falls.

40.2 per cent said poor staffing lead to pressure injuries.

41 per cent of facilities audited were providing 2.5 or less hours care a day.