Nursing Home Staffing Levels Inadequate

The Health Services Union has highlighted serious problems at a nursing home in Bunbury located in Western Australia where understaffing and a lack of training have resulted in a breakdown in care standards.

Inspectors from the Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency have failed the Ocean Star Nursing Home and hostel on six of the 44 accreditation standards including infection control, pain management and clinical care.
The standard of the facility was also heavily criticised with some residents saying it should be pulled down.
The HSU's Western Australia branch the Hospital Salaried Officers Association said staff were not given sufficient education and training which had led to problems in patient care and were run off their feet trying to care for all the residents.
In the hostel section it was discovered there was only one staffmember working at night looking after 42 residents, HSOA secretary Dan Hill said.

''The inspectors in their official report found that there had been complaints from some residents that they could only have three showers a week because there was not time to give them more,'' he said.

''Only half of the residents in the nursing home had been given a basic occupational therapy assessment because the occupational therapist only worked four hours a week. That is just unacceptable.

''Unfortunately these problems are all too common. Aged care facilities across Western Australia and the rest of the country have no minimum staffing levels that they have to meet and as a result there are huge variations in the quality of care provided.''

The HSOA is one of the state branches taking part in the national campaign by the Health Services Union to improve the quality of care for residents in aged care facilities.

The campaign includes pushing for the introduction of minimum safe staffing levels, proper access to health professionals and improved workplace safety and training.

HSU National Secretary Craig Thomson said the campaign came after a survey of aged care staff around the country revealed two thirds were working in places which they said did not have enough staff and one in five said they believed residents were in danger from understaffing.

''This is not about one size fits all,'' Mr Thomson said.

'' This is about making sure that there is a guarantee for residents that there will at least be a minimum number of people working in every home on every shift around the country.

''Who would not want that in place to make sure there is a guaranteed standard of care for residents?

''Accreditation checks are up to three years apart but this is something that would be there every day.''

For further information or a copy of the Ocean Star report contact Dan Hill on 0407 770417 or Craig Thomson on 0419 498691

© 2003 Health Services Union (HSU)
This page: http://www.hsua.org.au/news/1056435404_2698.html
Last Modified: Wednesday, 16-Nov-2005 17:18:59 EST