The royal commission has confirmed the evidence of NSWNMA members who spoke out about unacceptable working and living conditions in nursing homes.

 In May 2019, NSWNMA member Susan Walton took the brave step of giving evidence to the Aged Care Royal Commission about her work as an assistant in nursing (AiN).

She told the commissioners what it was like to work at a chronically understaffed nursing home.

Each AiN/CSE (care support employee) had the impossible task of adequately caring for 40, often infirm, residents while on night shift.

“You cannot continue to treat our elderly residents like this; staff and residents need more support,” she said.

“One person to 40 residents, it does not work, you can’t do it; you need ratios in aged care now,” she said.

Her employer is one of the largest aged care operators in NSW. She has been an AiN at the same facility for over 10 years.

Soon after the hearing, The Lamp asked Susan if she feared reprisals for speaking out. “If you tell the truth about what is happening, you can’t get into trouble,” she said.

On 31 October, Susan’s stance was vindicated when the royal commission delivered its interim report.

Susan said she was grateful the commissioners had listened to family members, staff members, and “everybody else who appeared at the commission, and told the truth about what is really happening in aged care today”.

Federal Minister for Aged Care, Richard Colbeck, said the government was shocked by the royal commission’s findings.

Susan says politicians shouldn’t be shocked.

“We have had numerous reports, inquiries and complaints on 
the crisis in aged care over the last 10 years.

“In the lead-up to the state and federal elections, the nurses’ union and their members publicly campaigned extremely hard for changes in aged care.

“State and federal politicians have known exactly what has been going on, but they have all decided to put their blinkers on and ignore this.

“Surely they can’t sweep the royal commission report under the carpet, just like they have with all the other reports.

“Surely Australians will wake up now to what is happening to their loved ones, and force the politicians and government to do something.

“We all need to keep talking, we need to keep this going, keep the spotlight shining, keep it going in the media.”

Susan said the government and providers should be held account-able for how billions of dollars of public subsidies and residents’ fees are spent. After the interim report was released, Susan said “nothing has changed” at her facility. “Staff and residents continue to suffer from a shortage of staff and not being able to help our  elderly residents with all their everyday needs.”