Nurses and relatives tell local paper why facility needs more staff.
Bupa Pottsville nurses are “crying out for help, calling for more staff to be urgently appointed to help them take care of residents” the Tweed Daily News reported. Here is what staff members and residents’ relatives told the newspaper on the day of the rally and earlier:
Assistant in Nursing Gill West:
“We were told not to come down (to the rally) or we would be docked; even if we came down for 10 minutes on our meal break we would be docked four hours’ pay.
“A lot of staff are feeling threatened and they’re really scared they’re going to lose their job.
“(Management) don’t listen to our concerns; we’re constantly run off our feet.”
Assistant in Nursing Georgia Meredith:
“I’m in the dementia wing and we’ve only got three people to look after 22 residents who are all high care; none of them can look after themselves or shower themselves.
“It also puts a lot of stress on residents because they’re uncomfortable and that causes more behaviours for them because they don’t know how to fix the problem.
“We’ve only got one staff member on at night who has to try to look after them and change pads by themselves. And it’s not just the AiNs that are stressed; the cleaners and kitchen staff are also stressed. We’re all trying to do our jobs.”
Assistant in Nursing Elanor Bilbie:
“As it stands, with one nurse to nine residents it’s completely unsafe and on some occasions it can be one-to-23, depending on what shift you’re on.
“(Residents are) not getting the care they need. We want to make it safe for all the nursing staff and all of the residents as well.
“Some residents who can semi-care for themselves may not see a nurse for six hours and that’s just entirely unfair. It can lead to isolation and a higher falls risk; just because they can do a few things doesn’t mean they can’t trip over. They could lie there for a few hours and no-one would know.”
Shane Thompson, son of a 93-year-old resident:
“There’s a lack of quality care because the guys are trying to do way too much; they’re trying their hardest but it’s not fair on them and there’s no management support for them at all.
“The flow-on from that is mistakes in medication and quality of care … I’ve addressed management half a dozen times this year about it and it’s actually just got worse. Nothing has been done.
“It’s very stressful for the family; there’s no peace of mind when you leave and you’re always just constantly worried.”
James Lees, husband of a resident:
He said staff are “pulled in every direction”, which left residents unattended for hours.
“It doesn’t look good when I walk into my wife’s bathroom to find faeces all around the toilet bowl.
“The hallways are empty because staff are just flat out. It can take 20-40 minutes for a call-out. The nurses are working extremely hard and have to be everywhere.”
Income up, costs and care down
Bupa’s Australian aged care business made over $663 million in 2017 and over 70 per cent ($468 million) of this was from government funding, a report by the Tax Justice Network found.
While revenue increased by $27 million last year, BUPA slashed costs, paying suppliers and employees $3 million less.
The Sydney Daily Telegraph reported the Tax Justice Network’s findings on Bupa and other aged care providers under the headline, ‘Time to justify expenses in industry littered with neglect, abuse’.
A company spokesman told The Telegraph that the salaries of Bupa aged care managing director Jan Adams and chairman, Nicola Roxon – a former federal health minister and attorney-general – were not disclosed by the UK parent company.
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