Elderly in best of care
REGARDING the letter “Time for aged care laws” ( TB, 7/ 4).
I write with reference to the letter to the editor from Beth Mohle, Secretary, Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union.
I feel that it is timely to address some of the issues raised in this letter.
The assertion from Ms Mohle that aged- care providers have a “complete lack of federal laws” is quite simply false.
We are a highly regulated, scrutinised and accountable part of the health and ageing environments.
While it is always concerning to learn that some parts of the aged- care sector are obviously not performing as they should, our home and many others like us are always more than ready to be visited by family, community members or government auditors.
The quality of our staff, our processes and our ethos has stood up time and time again to scrutiny and we welcome all input as part of a continuous improvement processes.
The Good Shepherd Home has been providing care for our region’s most frail for more than 40 years.
As a community owned, locally operated and not- forprofit facility, care for our residents is always our overwhelming priority.
We maintain higher than industry standard staffing levels especially at night – both in terms of number of people and seniority. We do this because profits are not our primary driver. Providing exceptional care for the aged and infirm in our community is.
The Good Shepherd Home welcomes the recent Federal Government announcement of increased scrutiny across the entire sector as we see it as an opportunity for all aged- care facilities to identify and implement better ways of caring for our residents.
We would like to urge Ms Mohle to understand the clear distinction between the forprofit and not- for- profit operators of aged- care facilities when making comments about the “$ 1 billion in collective profits”. This is not comparing apples with apples and, in fact, tarnishes the great work that many aged- care professionals deliver every single day.
Every cent above what it costs to actually run our facility is reinvested internally in upgrading and improving our facilities and service.
We are not perfect, far from it. But like the rest of the local community we are constantly striving to be the best that we can and look after each other.
DAVID DONOHUE, Chair, Governing Council, The Good Shepherd Home.