Victorian aged care staff rated for how they run nursing homes

Aged care residents in Victorian 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 a Victorian aged care home given one of the lowest ratings by their own residents when it comes to knowing what they are doing said they are still grappling with the impact of Covid.

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.

The residents were asked 12 questions with responses ranging from ‘always’ to ‘never’.

For the question, ‘Do staff know what they are doing?’ Corangamarah in Colac, received 2.46 out of 4, the lowest score in the state.

More than half (54 per cent) of residents surveyed at the site said they thought staff knew what they were doing only ‘some of the time’, according to the My Aged Care website.

When asked whether their place was well run, 69 per cent said ‘some of the time’.

And when asked whether staff follow up when things are raised, nearly half (46 per cent) said ‘some of the time’.

Aged care residents have rated their nursing homes.

A spokeswoman for Corangamarah said the survey was conducted over six months ago.

“Covid has had and continues to have a significant impact on our resident experience,” the spokeswoman said.

“When our resident experience is reassessed we anticipate an improvement in our results.”

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

The results of the survey contribute 33 per cent to a facility’s overall Star Ratings.

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

News Corp has for the first time 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.

Corangamarah Aged Care in Colac. Picture: Supplied

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.

This year’s survey is currently underway and needs to be submitted by October.

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 in this year’s survey to, ‘How likely are you to recommend this residential aged care home to someone?’.

The Department of Health and Aged Care said surveys are undertaken by an independent workforce, which use a global best practice quantitative research methodology.

Cohuna District Nursing Home and Numurkah Pioneers Memorial Lodge are the only two homes in Victoria that achieved a perfect score of 4 for the question, ‘Do staff know what they are doing?’.

Bupa Mosman in Sydney received the lowest score in the country receiving 2.15 out of four for the same question.

*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.