Aged Care Crisis
for consumers, by consumers
Dear Santa,
Mary has asked me to write to you this Christmas. As you know from her past letters, she is still working very hard in aged care. The nursing home where she works was recently bought out by some big corporate firm and things have changed drastically since the new managers took over.
This is in memory of "Mary". I am sorry I could not do much to help you. You and your family put your trust into this aged care facility. You were failed.
Introduction: I would like to introduce you to an experienced Registered Nurse's (RN) account of working in a fully accredited and licensed Australian nursing home. With over twenty years of experience in nursing, including Emergency Departments of Australian hospitals, medical and surgical nursing, the RN also had qualifications in Training and as an Assessor.
The RN unfortunately, must remain anonymous until public and industry opinion takes a more charitable turn towards "feedback" and whistle-blowers. Let's call the RN "Peter". All real names and details have been changed to protect the author, whose name has been withheld and forgotten. This article illustrates one of the reasons why many good staff leave aged care. Names and some details have been changed to protect the author.
The following piece was written by an aged care worker with nursing home experience in the Australian aged care market. It illustrates the vast divide between reality and the marketing tactics used to sell these illusions to unsuspecting family members. For obvious reasons the real name of the author is withheld and forgotten.
This is a story about a 'David and Goliath' battle between a group of elderly people living in a retirement village who were in the main aged pensioners and against one of Australia’s largest companies. It will never be a best seller because it does not have any romance, sex, or violence.
The book is based on transcripts of hearings and decisions of the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal, submissions, summary and decision of the District Court and minutes of meetings and other records of the Retirement Village Residents Association and a retirement village associated with the case.
The following article was written by a person with a loved one in a nursing home. It illustrates the direction that aged care is taking in a competitive 'market' - how residents in many homes are cared for by people whose prime interest is how much money can be squeezed from the care of the residents. It needs no further introduction. For obvious reasons, the name of the author is withheld and forgotten.
An article, Care the key in ending aged hell, (Sydney Morning Herald 14 Apr 2012, by Adele Horin) relates the experiences of "Jean" as she attempted to ensure that her husband received adequate aged care during the last years of his life.
