Staffing ratios per resident need to be addressed. I am an enrolled nurse in a residential facility and I have just had my job made redundant, along with another EN.
This now means only 1 EN to administer medication, treat wounds and assist health care workers, when needed, to every 30 residents.
I have a long paper trail of issues dealing with residential aged care and the lack of staff. I have heard recently that the government is asking for ratios to be accounted for in facilities. It is a huge problem, especially in the aged care industry.
The facility that I am dealing with never seems to have enough staff. I am finding that, during the time I spend with my husband at the facility, I am left to do things for him that are the staff’s responsibility.
I was pleased to see your article in Senior News and hope I can contribute something to help solve the problems you obviously know exist.
My wife has been confined to a wheelchair for almost 5 years in the high care section of our Gold Coast retirement village.
My wife developed early onset alzheimer’s in 2004. By 2009, her cognitive impairment had reached a stage where she suffered with apathy, paranoia and hallucinations.
She spent 3 months in care facilities in 2010, 5 months in 2011 and permanently from 2012 until her death in 2017.
Many nursing home providers are reducing the number of Registered Nurses and replacing them with less skilled experienced and less qualified staff.
Federal politicians seem to believe putting millions of dollars into the aged care system solves the level and quality of care being delivered to nursing home residents.
