War of words erupts over future of aged care jobs

AGED care spokeswoman said union's actions caused "undue stress".

Jobs will be cut at a local aged care facility. Picture: thinkstock

UPDATE 5.50pm: A HEALTH Services Union spokesman said their workers are doing high-end care of some of the most vulnerable people in society and are valued less by the government than a can of beans.

According to HSU aged care manager, Rob Sheehy, the government spend on each aged care resident a day is nearly half that spent on people in prisons and nearly 1/10th of those in hospitals.

"Most of our members would earn more working at Woolworths or Aldi. They are doing high-end care looking after older people who paid their taxes all their life, fought for their country, brought up families and they are valued less than a can of beans," he said.

"Our people look after our older Australians who the government spends $170 (per day) on in aged care compared to $1500 per person in hospital and $300 for those in prison."

Mr Sheehy said a real issue is the fact so many aged care facilities are in the red.

"It's a well-known and published fact that over 50 per cent of regional aged -care facilities are losing money," he said.

"Because number one, the funding has not kept up with the cost of living and regional cost are far higher such as being able to secure staff and it costs more to provide higher-care needs such as palliative care and dementia, clearly the funding has not kept up with the needs."

He said the average stay in aged care is around two years.

"But 40 per cent stay nine months or less, they will pass away and it's funded like a senior baby-sitting service," he said.

"We are turning aged care into a battery hen situation, we are letting our seniors down, our members report in some cases it's a factory - feed, medicate, wash, move on - and sometimes showering is the only time they get to  talk with the residents."

Mr Sheehy said the government needs to urgently turn the situation around and have a discussion on how to improve not cut, staffing levels.

He said the numbers Page MP Kevin Hogan quoted, refers to largely to the increasing number of people requiring care - and that the government need to determine how companies in the field are spending the funding.

"As we live older we have higher care needs and the quantum of the funding per resident is still not enough but the government is not requiring aged-care firms to spend the money in any particular way despite a Royal Commission," he said.

"There are some companies they do their absolute best by their residents, but there's often significant amounts of money put away for new development to grow their business, there's no strings attached so they could be going to executive salaries, that's one of our concerns.

"Staff need to have be paid sufficient wages comparable to their level of high-care responsibility."

Richmond MP Justine Elliot said she has real concerns.

"The federal government have cut more than $2 billion from aged care funding, here is the direct result with aged care facilities across the north coast," she said.

"I know many aged-care facilities in the region are struggling and people who want the home-care they need, they are and their families are distressed.

"I welcome anyone in the region to contact me about any specific concerns they made have in a confidential manner."

UPDATE 5.40pm: PAGE MP Kevin Hogan slammed the Health Services Union and accused them of lying over aged care figures.

"It's an outright lie, this is the crazy sh*t that happened at election times," he said.

"This is an outright lie, which is demeaning our political democratic process."

Mr Hogan said while he could not comment specifically on the Uniting Care and Feros aged care facilities in this instance, he felt demographics might be the cause of the organising cutting shifts and staff.

"I can't comment on an individual nursing home, (but) I have given federal increases in funding to nursing homes in Grafton, Ballina. Kyogle and Casino…Lismore seems to be an anomaly and I don't presume to be an expert," he said.

"People tend to go to retirement homes down the coast, we have just expanded two in Ballina recently and I know anecdotally people have gone (there), so I think it's more about shifting demographics."

Mr Hogan said the federal government invested $20.4 billion in aged care in 2018-19 alone.

"Funding of aged care has increased by more than 50 per cent from $14.2 billion in 2013-14 to $21.6 billion in 2019-20," he said.

"The 2019-20 Budget provides an additional $724.8 million to support older Australians through further improvements to the quality, safety and accessibility of aged care services."

UPDATE 2.25pm: A WAR of words has erupted between an aged care facility and a health services union, leaving the future employment of up to 85 staff members unclear.

This morning, the Health Services Union raised concerns after receiving notice from Goonellabah aged care facility Uniting Care Caroona about a planned meeting with staff to announce jobs restructuring.

The union claims 25 roles will be cut and a further 60 impacted.

In response, a Uniting Media spokeswoman said changes to 25 roles did not mean jobs would be lost as they were hoping to redeploy workers to other roles. She said the proposed changes were due to be discussed with staff during a meeting next week.

HSU spokesman Stewart Prins said Uniting appeared to be engaging in a war of words when they should be concentrating on retaining their hard-working and dedicated staff.

"As far as we understand 25 jobs will cut and 60 workers will have their hours cut," he said.

UPDATE 1.40pm: A UNITING Media spokeswoman moved to allay fears 25 jobs would be lost at one of their aged care facilities.

She said: "Next week's planned meeting will discuss changes we would like to make which aim to increase the number of direct care hours we provide to our residents".

"We also want to ensure the stable and consistent assignment of care workers in our household communities, providing clients with greater certainty and predictability in their day-to-day interactions.

"To facilitate these changes, we are proposing to create new roles, change some existing roles, and make some changes to rostered hours.

"We anticipate that the changes to roles could directly impact 25 staff members.

"Wherever possible we will redeploy staff to other roles, only offering redundancies where this is not possible. We will also continue to work with and support our impacted staff, including continuing to offer re-training."

UPDATE, 12pm: A SPOKESWOMAN from  Goonellabah aged care facility Uniting Care Caroona said they were "very disappointed" that the Health Services Union had publicised the news of a jobs restructure ahead of a meeting with staff, saying it had caused "undue stress". 

"Uniting is providing onsite counselling to affected staff members, we will also be communicating with residents and their families to clarify the process going forward," she said.

She said the organisation had maintained contact with all parties regarding the possible outcomes, including upskilling and redundancies.

"Consistent with these obligations we wrote to all relevant unions, including the Health Services Union to formally advise them of the commencement of a consultation process with staff about workplace changes at Uniting Goonellabah," she said.

"As per the notification to the HSU, we will hold a meeting with staff next week to discuss the proposed changes.

"These changes will involve adjustments to rosters to improve the care for our residents.

"New roles are also being created which will provide opportunities for redeployment."

She said the meeting Uniting would hold with their staff and the unions "is part of a consultation process to explore the best ways to maximise how we increase the number of care hours for our residents".

"All existing contracts will be honoured, however, up to 25 staff from our cleaning, kitchen and catering operations will be impacted," she said.

"We have offered the opportunity for these staff to upskill with care qualifications (CERT 111 in Aged Care) and a number of staff have taken this up.

"Where redeployment is not possible, redundancies may be offered."

The spokeswoman said the organisation is unhappy with the wider community being informed ahead of the meeting with the union.

"Uniting is very disappointed that information conveyed to the HSU has been publicised in this way ahead of the meeting causing undue distress to our staff," she said.

"Uniting is providing onsite counselling to affected staff members, we will also be communicating with residents and their families to clarify the process going forward."

UPDATE, 11.20am: NORTHERN Rivers residents have lashed out in response to revelations that 25 jobs will be cut from Goonellabah aged care facility, Uniting Care Caroona.

The Health Services Union also said hours would be reduced for another 60 workers at Feros Care facilities in Kingscliff, Byron Bay and Bangalow.

Angry locals have taken to The Northern Star's Facebook page to comment on the news, labelling the decision "disgusting" and "wrong".

Graham Vidler: "Disgusting!!! Blame the federal government. Vote wisely at the next election."

Emma Lakin: "This is disgusting. Aged care facilities need more staff, not less."

Mary Maloney: "Aged care facilities are already short staffed. Not good."

Melinda Roth: "Outrageous. We don't have enough staff as it is. It's all about the money."

Amanda Ferguson: "Putting limits on preventative care goes against the whole primary care model they are trying to enforce for the health system."

Lana Jade: "They'll realise once they cut everyone how important the staff are."

Jenny Murphy: "So when they take an elderly person's pension each fortnight to cover the cost of care, they think that's not enough money. Bullshit. Disgusting. Time for the European way, family take care of the elderly and the greedy nursing homes go bust."

Tony O'Toole: "Aged care has become all about profits not actual care and empathy."

Glenda Irvine: "This is so wrong but what do we expect. It's all about cost cutting, not about the people and the care they get."

Jodie Hull: "That's bulls--t ... we need carers to look after the elderly and sick."

Sonja Cottam: "Workers are already worked to the bone trying to provide care, clients end up getting grumpy overworked workers and care quality drops. It's time to support aged care and put more money and staff in."

Carolyn Jung: "It's all about profits. The companies and government don't give a damn about the residents or staff. They will pay lip service to the Royal Commission, then go on with business as usual."

Craig Johnson: "Once again it's the ones that need the most care that have to suffer because it's all about the bottom line."
 

UPDATE, 10.05am: HEALTH Services Union representative Stewart Prins said the union was demanding answers after it was today revealed 25 jobs would be cut from a Goonellabah aged care facility.

"The HSU will be meeting with Uniting Care Management on Friday re the job losses," he said.

"We hope to have clarified exactly what the changes for operations mean, which really comes down to how it affects member and residents."

Mr Prins said these cuts to job and shifts are devastating not just to workers but also to residents.

"Aged care workers are not in this for the money," he said,

"They are all about the services they provide and the care they give to residents in the facilities and ultimately this means they will have less time to devote to those people."

Original story: A NUMBER of jobs will be slashed at a Goonellabah aged care facility, according to the Health Services Union.

In a statement issued this morning, the union revealed Uniting Caroona planned to cut 25 jobs, and reduce hours for another 60 workers.

The job cuts will affect kitchen and catering staff, while shift reductions will affect catering, cleaning and physiotherapy staff.

Union secretary Gerard Hayes said shift workers at Feros Care's aged care facilities in Kingscliff, Byron Bay and Bangalow had also been told they will have their hours reduced.

He said the job cuts and shift reductions were a blow to local workers and to aged care residents.

"The Federal Government has wound back aged care funding by almost $2 billion, putting further pressure on the aged care sector at a time when it is already struggling to cope," he said.

"The reality is now starting to bite in places like Goonellabah, Kingscliff, Byron Bay and Bangalow.

"These cuts to jobs and shifts will hurt local workers and their families, while also bringing into question the level of care that can be provided to aged care residents."

Mr Hayes said the Aged Care Royal Commission had revealed the aged care model in Australia is broken.

"Operators are being forced to continually reduce their labour costs by cutting staff and increasing their reliance on casual employment, outsourcing and labour hire," he said.

"It's time to rethink the way we fund aged care and look after our older Australians."

Uniting Care and Feros Care have been contacted for comment.