At 9.30 that day (Dec 5, 2019), some crucial amendments to aged care legislation were introduced which would force nursing home to reveal how they spent their $20 billion of taxpayer funds each year-- specifically, how much went to staff, food and 'the amounts paid out to parent bodies'.
Unlike hospital and child care centres, aged care facilities can employ as few staff as they like because there are no staff-to-resident ratios in nursing homes.
When it comes to food, a study of 800 nursing homes shows the average spend is just $6 a day.
When the crucial vote came, the Government shot it down.
Sorry about the messy quoting, but I'm fed up with this forum's sh*tty software !$@*
__________________
"No friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full."
When nursing homes are being run for a profit it is concerning and hard to see how the business owners/managers will operate any differently to 99.9% of other businesses ie. profit first.
Having said that: the $6 a day for food may not be as bad as it looks:
Old people generally don't eat a lot.
Buying food in quantity is cheaper - especially if one does not buy from ColesWorth.
A professional chef will (one hopes) produce nutritious and flavoursome meals from the basic ingredients of meat/veg/pots/rice.
Nevertheless this is an area government should police like a hawk to ensure neglect does not occur. And the occasional tales of physical/sexual abuse one hears of hardly bears thinking about.
Finally: you'll *never* find me in such an establishment - when my life reaches that point it will be time to go.
__________________
"I beseech you in the bowels of Christ think it possible you may be mistaken"
Oliver Cromwell, 3rd August 1650 - in a letter to the General Assembly of the Kirk of Scotland
"Nevertheless this is an area government should police like a hawk to ensure neglect does not occur. And the occasional tales of physical/sexual abuse one hears of hardly bears thinking about."
Ill second that.
The way elderly are treated needs a lot more scutiny.
If it wasnt so serious it would be a joke.
I worked at a nursing home in NZ for a very short time, at the interview I asked what the staff to resident ration was and was told 1 to 5, what I later found out was they counted every staff member, laundry staff, gardening staff, cleaning staff- the actual real ratio of carers to residents was very low, no doubt it is probably the same in oz.
__________________
I am made up of flaws stitched together with good intentions.
That was a good find Dorian, thanks for putting it up
Below is a snip from the article, Dorian put up
My amendments are all about transparency and accountability - and, boy, do we need more of this," said Senator Stirling Griff from Centre Alliance, who proposed the amendments.
When the crucial vote came, Labor, the Greens, Centre Alliance and Jacqui Lambie supported it. But the Government voted against it and, with the help of Pauline Hanson, the reform was defeated.
Reading the article in detail, it appears to me, (but I could have read it wrong), that the aged care industry, has got the government in its pocket
It will certainly help me to decide, who will get my next vote, as I certainly intend to grow old enough, to go into a nursing home
