HORROR TALE OF NEGLECT
PANDEMIC ADDS TO CHALLENGES
AUSTRALIA’S aged-care homes were failing before the Covid-19 pandemic swept through, killing more than 1700 elderly residents and leaving thousands more infected.
Frail residents were locked in their rooms and denied visitors, while staff shortages meant they were not showered for days, fed properly or even given their medicines.
Last year a damning royal commission found the industry “neglected” elderly people, was “a sad and shocking system that diminishes Australia as a nation” and was “unkind and uncaring”.
Commissioners Richard Tracey and Lynell Briggs said care was substandard and unsafe and staff were “underpaid, undervalued and insufficiently trained”. They called for between $2bn and $20bn in extra funding.
A News Corp investigation found aged-care homes currently received an average $93,000 per resident per year but there was no way to track how that was spent.
Health Services Union national secretary Lloyd Williams said the sector was “seriously on its knees” and the single biggest issue was how to stop workers leaving the industry.
Wages needed to be lifted from $22 an hour to $29 and a proper career structure put in place to attract people, he said.
“Around 70 per cent of workers are casuals or work part-time hours,” Mr Williams said.
“Some are doing multiple jobs to eke out a living. That’s why we can’t fill a quarter of the shifts in aged care and why residents are lying in bed with soiled clothing. It’s a deplorable situation.”
A United Workers Unions survey found staff morale was so low more than three in four workers intended to leave the industry within five years.
The Fair Work Commission is investigating a bid for a pay rise for workers, but the Morrison government is not supporting this and instead has offered two one-off payments of $400 to aged-care workers.
Labor has said it will put a submission to the Fair Work Commission supporting a permanent wage rise if it wins the federal election.
Meanwhile, about 100,000 people are waiting for an aged-care package to cover the cost of cleaners, gardeners and carers so they can age in their own home.
Wait times for top-level home-care packages are up to two years, and providers take more than a third of the money in administration fees.
Aged and Community Services Australia CEO Paul Sadler, who represents notfor-profit, church and charitable providers, supports a lift in workers’ wages, but also wants an increase in government subsidies for covering infection prevention.
Sean Rooney, from Leading Aged Services Australia, wants the government to set up a new Covid co-ordination centre to make sure the sector is properly resourced and ready for any future waves.
Aged Care Crisis spokeswoman Lynda Saltarelli said an integrated, independent and supported complaints system must be set up. Providers must also be vetted by regional aged-care managers before being allowed to provide services to that community, she said.
Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck has been criticised for his poor management of the pandemic and recently apologised for going to the cricket instead of fronting a parliamentary inquiry into the aged-care crisis.
Aged Care Matters director Sarah Russell said the pandemic had highlighted “systematic failures in the aged-care sector”.
The government’s lack of planning led to unnecessary deaths in homes, she said.
Advocacy groups such as Wounds Australia said the government could save up to $1.5bn by adopting its 11 points, including proper training for wound management.
Dietitians Australia said just providing better-quality food could help heal wounds and save on bandages.