Cuts will ‘decimate’ Blue Care

NURSING home operator Blue Care is refusing to reveal the full extent of staff cuts at its aged care facility on Stenner Street.

Nine enrolled nurses were given marching orders on Friday afternoon after two weeks of “consultation” with staff, according to a statement from Blue Care.

Those nine redundancies were the equivalent of cutting six full time positions, or roughly 480 hours from the fortnightly roster.

An employee, who spoke to The Chronicle on the condition of anonymity, described the cuts as a “decimation”.

The worker said other staff members across differing sections have had their workloads - up to 75 hours a fortnight - cut back to their contracted hours, which in some cases is just 16 hours a week.

The Chronicle asked Blue Care on Monday how many hours had been cut from the fortnightly roster, and did not receive an answer.

A Blue Care spokeswoman yesterday said the organisation was not able to provide a total number of hours cut from the roster as it was yet to be finalised.

The spokeswoman said the current staffing model was “well above the industry benchmark and it has been necessary to adjust rosters to reflect current industry benchmarks widely used throughout the aged care sector”.

“For some employees this has resulted in reducing hours back to their contracted hours, whilst for other employees hours have been increased,” she said.

“These changes ensure Blue Care can continue to meet the community’s expectation of affordable access to high quality care.”

The Queensland Nurses and Midwives Union described the cuts as “significant” and held concerns for patient care in the wake of the changes.