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18th – 24th of May is National Volunteers Week and we would like to thank all of the Respect volunteers that dedicate their time to making our resident’s lives better. They provide an invaluable service to our residents, who would be no doubt missing their friendly faces at the moment. If you have some time to spare, we are always on the lookout for new volunteers. You don’t even need any special talents, so call your nearest Respect home today to enquire about volunteering.

Today is International Nurse Day and we would like to pay tribute to the amazing care that nurses provide in each and every Respect home. It takes a truly special type of person to become a nurse, and then to commit to caring for some of our community’s most vulnerable in aged care is another level of special. We appreciate everything that they do every day, but recent events have highlighted their dedication, compassion and will to put others before themselves. And for that they deserve the highest level of respect. Thank You.

Respect has today commenced a proportionate lessening to its visitor restrictions in Tasmania due to the decreased risk posed by decreasing numbers of community coronavirus transmissions. This initial phase will involve each resident being able to have one 30 minute visit from one visitor this week. Each visitor will need to contact the facility and they will be given a code and instructions on how to make a booking through our website using that code. Once in the booking system you will be taken through a series of educational videos and you will also be asked to declare that you have had an up to date influenza vaccination. Visiting arrangements will be reviewed each week with further changes implemented to increase visiting if the risk remains low. Please be mindful however that we will continue to experience localised outbreaks in the future and we will respond accordingly with individual facility lockdowns moving forward as the situation demands.

There remains in place the capacity to visit the site under exceptional circumstances such as end of life care or when asked by the facility to provide support to a resident who is distressed.

Visitors once on site will be asked to;

• complete a risk-based questionnaire regarding recent travel and activities;
  • have their temperature taken;
  • be supervised on entry to ensure proper hand sanitisation;
  • maintain social distancing from their loved one of 1.5 meters throughout the duration of their visit;
  • only visit their loved one in their room and with no access to public or communal areas, or to visit other residents; and
  • wear personal protective equipment if deemed necessary in the future depending on the circumstances.

Visits will be limited to 30 minutes and be required to be conducted between 9am to 5pm from Monday to Friday, but will be considered in the situation of a resident receiving end of life care with flexibility in this regard applied on a case by case basis. Visitors who don’t comply with these conditions of entry and/or who do not follow the directions of staff will be asked to leave and refused further entry. Whilst we don’t want to be punitive, we must strictly adhere to these measures to ensure the safety of residents and staff.

This easing of restrictions will bring Tasmania into line with our Victorian homes, and our intention is to continue to relax these restrictions over the coming weeks if circumstances allow.

Respect has deployed extra staff resources within the home to meet the needs of residents at this time. Please remember you can still call at any time, or video call by arranging this with the home your loved one resides in. When talking to your loved one, if you can please reassure them that this is a precautionary measure only, and we are working day and night to ensure their safety whilst having as much social engagement as we can provide in the circumstances.

Respect were the first aged care organisation in Australia to voluntarily put their homes into lockdown. The decision to do this was an extremely difficult one, which needed to weigh the risks associated with community transmission versus the safety of our residents which is always our first priority. The decision was made when the doubling rate of the Coronavirus in Australia was less than three days (meaning the number of people infected doubled at least every three days) and it appeared as if Australia was on the same trajectory as many countries that are now in a tragic condition. If the doubling rate had stayed at three days, more than half of the population of Australia would have contracted the virus by the end of May 2020.  Respect were not comfortable at the time with the Government’s recommendation to leave aged care homes open when the virus was doubling every three days.

The doubling rate in Australia is now 425 days, and even higher in many of the communities where our homes are located. Respect has therefore assessed the risk in the current climate as very low and will begin controlled visitations in Victoria. We intend to begin controlled visitation in the North and South of Tasmania on 6 May 2020 if the directive from the Director of Public Health (which requires us to remain in lockdown) is lifted. We will assess the North West Coast of Tasmania on a day-by-day basis from 6 May 2020 because the community risk in the North West Coast is still considered high.

The controlled visitations will occur as a proportionate lessening to our visitor restrictions. The initial phase will allow one 30 minute visitation from one visitor for each resident between 9:00am and 4:30pm Monday to Friday. We will increase visitations when we’re comfortable that the system is adequately controlling the risk, and if community risk remains low. If the risk in a community increases, we will increase restrictions on visitation accordingly using this flexible system.

Please note, the restrictions do not apply to end of life care, however these visitors will need to follow the same process.

Each visitor will need to contact the facility and they will be given a code and instructions on how to make a booking through our online booking application (https://cov.respect.com.au/).

Visitors must;

• Complete a risk assessment regarding recent travel and activities.
• Make a declaration that they have had a flu vaccination as per new Government regulations for aged care visitors.
• Watch read and understand education on the Coronavirus, hand hygiene, sneeze and cough etiquette, and social distancing.
• Have their temperature taken prior to entry.
• Be supervised on entry to ensure proper hand sanitisation.
• Maintain social distancing from their loved one of 1.5 meters throughout the duration of their visit.
• Only visit their loved one in their room and with no access to public or communal areas, or to visit other residents.
• Wear personal protective equipment if deemed necessary in the future depending on the circumstances.

We have deployed extra staff resources within the home to meet the needs of residents at this time and please remember you can still call at anytime, or video call by arranging this with the home your loved one resides in.

 

 

We are excited to announce an addition to our aged care homes – St John’s Village, a non-profit aged care provider in Wangaratta.

Shadow Minister for Ageing Senator Helen Polley recently spent the day working alongside staff at Prospect Vale’s Tyler Village and was glowing in her praise of the facility and the exemplary care that staff provide.

“I’ve spent today working in the shoes of aged care workers at Tyler Village at Prospect Vale. They should be commended for the extraordinary and invaluable work they do each day to look after and care for our older loved ones,” she said.

Ms Polley said the Royal Commission would help to shed a light on the sector and address key issues such as workforce retention and pay. She said aged care workers were working harder than ever to care for their clients and funding models needed updating to keep up.

“Today I was privileged to walk a day in the shoes of an aged care worker at Tyler Village in Launceston. There isn’t enough praise for the wonderful aged care workers across Tasmania and the rest of Australia who look after older Australians every single day. We need to respect all those who work in aged care and they should be better remunerated. This cannot wait until after the Aged Care Royal Commission!” Polley said.

Ms Polley also noted the high standard of food on offer at Tyler Village and was impressed with all of the staff that she met throughout the day.

“The meals that I was serving today were fantastic.  They were nutritional, they were balanced, and they were well presented. There are so many good providers and fantastic people that work in this industry. Whether they’re cleaners, whether they’re nurses, whether they’re personal carers or even in administration. ”

“These people need our respect and they need our support and things have to change.”

Throughout September Respect facilities were awash with flannelette, Akubras, overalls and Blundstones as our staff raised money for the farmers in regional Australia who have been doing it tough due to the drought.

It takes a special type of person to work in aged care.  Looking after some of society’s most vulnerable is not glamorous, high paying or even well celebrated, but at Respect we are extremely fortunate to have a special group of employees that genuinely care about others.  This was demonstrated recently when one of our staff members reached out to ask what we could do to help the farmers across Australia who are struggling with some of the worst drought conditions for a very long time.  So we started a fundraiser called “Farmer Fridays” where staff, residents and families were encouraged to dress as a farmer for a day and give a gold coin donation as payment.  Staff across the entire organisation embraced the concept and organised activities including raffles, morning/afternoon teas, farmer visits, auctions, BBQs, concerts and farm animal visits (including sheep, goats, chickens, dogs and even a horse!)

The fundraising activities raised a total of $3,554.75 to donate to the Buy A Bale initiative. This amount of money will enable them to supply drought-stricken farmers with 35 large, round bales of hay and will make a big difference for many farmers who are doing it tough.  This is another great example of company values – Care and Teamwork – in action, and we are extremely proud of our staff for embracing the concept and their willingness to give back.  The residents also thoroughly enjoyed all the activities and excitement.

In response to recent aged care publicity, Jason Binder, Chief Executive Officer, has released a statement so stakeholders are aware of Respect Aged Care’s position on a number of issues currently being publicly discussed.

Four Corners ‘Who Cares?’
On 17 September 2018 Four Corners aired the first part of their two-part investigation of the aged care industry titled ‘Who Cares?’.

We acknowledge some aged care providers are mistreating residents which is completely unacceptable, and against our values. This requires swift rectification and we are supportive of its exposure. We also understand that some aged care workers and families have had poor experiences in some aged care homes. The stories told last night, however, do not reflect how we, and many other aged care providers, care for our residents.

Many of our employees come to work every day for our residents, and genuinely respect and care for them as people, often as they would if they were their own parents. They form professional attachments and bonds, and have deep feelings about our residents, often attending funerals. We have received countless thank you letters, cards and donations from appreciative families for the care our staff provide.

The representation of the aged care industry by Four Corners was a deliberate attempt to provoke change where residents are being mistreated, which we fully support, however it is unfortunate that genuine aged care organisations and employees have been undeservedly stigmatised.

The Royal Commission
Scott Morrison announced a royal commission into aged care on 16 September 2018.

The Terms of Reference will not be known for another two to three weeks but will most likely include:

– The quality of care provided to older Australians, and the extent of substandard care;
– The challenge of providing care to Australians with disabilities living in residential aged care, particularly younger people with disabilities
– The challenge of supporting the increasing number of Australians suffering dementia and addressing their care needs as they age;
– The future challenges and opportunities for delivering aged care services in the context of changing demographics, including in remote, rural and regional Australia:
– Any other matters that the Royal Commission considers necessary.

We support the royal commission into aged care and increased scrutiny on the industry. The elderly are the people that built the society we now have the privilege to live in, and they deserve to be treated with respect and decency in the end stages of their lives. It’s unacceptable that the elderly are being mistreated in some aged care homes and we welcome any initiative that would prevent mistreatment of an elderly person.

Staff Ratios
Respect Aged Care is one of the few in the industry that is supportive of mandatory staff ratios.

Currently aged care providers determine their own staff ratios ‘based on resident acuity and the needs of the individual aged care home’. However, this becomes a basis for many private providers and some not-for-profit providers to use rosters and staff ratios to increase profit.

Mandatory staff ratios would stop any competition for profit based on staffing rosters and ratios and ensure that the elderly in Australia are receiving an appropriate amount of care in all aged care homes, as well as ensuring that funding is fair for all providers.

The notion that staff ratios need to be based on ‘resident acuity and the needs of the individual aged care home’ is in our view, flawed. Firstly, there is little evidence that resident acuity profiles vary excessively across the country. In our experience it varies little between most aged care homes. Secondly, ratios could be tied to funding which represents acuity. Thirdly, and most importantly, the only way to stop unscrupulous providers putting elderly people at risk due to low staffing ratios is to implement a mandatory ratio.

Increasing compliance initiatives and implementing punitive measures to try and force providers to increase staff ratios has never worked, and is therefore unlikely to ever work in the future. We need assurance that every aged care home in this country has an adequate amount of staff to care for our elderly, and we believe the only way to achieve that is through mandatory staff ratios.

Workforce
The Aged Care Workforce Task-force report, called “A matter of care – a strategy for Australia’s aged care workforce” was released last week. The report showed that the number of Australians receiving aged care will almost triple by 2050, to 3.5 million, requiring staff numbers to grow from 366,000 to almost one million. This means we need to increase the aged care workforce by almost three times in the next 30 years.

We agree with the recommendations of the report which include creating a social change campaign to address the stigma of working in aged care, addressing current and future competencies and skills, defining new career pathways, developing a standard approach to workforce planning and skills mix, and open conversations about funding and pay.

Wages
Our staff absolutely deserve higher wages, and we don’t believe the Australian aged care workforce can increase by 300% in the next 30 years without it. Our nurses are paid less than they would get at hospitals, and have higher levels of responsibility. Our care workers and other front-line workers are paid less than many other low skilled workers in other industries, yet they look after our elderly in ways which astounds most people, including myself.

We would love nothing more than to take charge and provide the wages that our staff deserve, however if we did that the organisation would be bankrupt within six months. We are simply not funded to be able to provide the wages we would like to provide, and unfortunately even if the industry was funded for it, we believe many aged care providers would not increase wages. We believe they would increase profits and continue to pay aged care workers lower wages than they deserve.

In our view, for wages to be increased whilst ensuring providers do not become bankrupt or exploit funding increases, the Fair Work Commission must increase aged care award wages to a level that is deserved. This would mean providers would legally be required to pay those wages, and the government would need to increase funding to compensate for the increase in wages.

Funding
The current government has cut almost $2 billion from residential aged care funding. Scott Morrison, in his announcement on the royal commission into aged care, denied there had been funding cuts to the sector, citing an increase in funding. Please be aware that the government increased overall funding to the industry, however, they have made cuts to funding on a per resident basis. Extra place allocations occur every year as the elderly population increases and more aged care beds and home care places are needed to care for the elderly. Funding for the industry has gone up due to increased numbers of elderly to care for, but funding to individual residents has been cut. It is an undeniable fact that the government has cut almost $2 billion from aged care funding on a per resident basis, meaning each existing resident has lost significant amounts of funding.

It is our hope that the royal commission will positively change the aged care industry. Unfortunately, the government, commentators, reporters, and the average person wants the problem solved by simply pointing fingers at aged care providers, some deservedly, but many undeservedly. However, for real change to occur, we need the government to not just wield a stick and implement punitive measures, but to also ensure there is an increase in funding to meet the current and future care needs of our precious elderly. Funding must be increased or cuts reversed whilst the royal commission is occurring, and in the long-term, the government must be willing to commit the required funding to ensure that every elderly person in Australia spends the last part of their lives being treated with respect and dignity.