Australia is heading into an ageing population, with the baby boomers reaching their later ages now.
HOWEVER:
The govt has thrown huge amounts of money at RTO's to provide courses in Aged Care, Disibility Care, Home Care, to coincide with this and hopefully, allow the majority of them to be cared for at home through home care packages.
Many folk dont realise that Public hospitals have Social Workers who can *pull strings* to find an elderly client needing aged care placement, a respite bed. Keep that in mind for future reference please.
ALL AGED CARE RESIDENTIAL FACILITIES HAVE RESPITE BEDS. INCLUDES BEDS IN LOW CARE, HIGH CARE AND DEMENTIA CARE. It annoys me when I hear stories about folk not being able to access a bed, they should have been offered a respite bed for the short term (up to 30days) , with turn over being every 1-2 weeks usually. (meaning most folk are in respite for 7-14 days) and emergency care takes precedence over other respite bookings. (if accessed via a social worker or doctor)
On the other side of the fence:
While there are plenty of folk complaining about the standards at Aged Care Residential Facilities, I would like to complain about the families who *DUMP* their parents into aged care facilities, visiting often in the first few weeks, then dwindles down to once a month, then often, not visiting at all.
These facilities are grossly understaffed, under funded, and are expected to perfom bloody miracles!
I've been in this industry for 32yrs now! Worked at the bottom, worked at the top, now I'm a Trainer and Assessor.
Some facilities are trying to house up to 300 clients. 300 CLIENTS!!!!!!! Those huge facilities (mostly found in your major cities) would be funded to cater for approx 120 staff per day shift, and a third of that for evening shift, followed by a skeleton staff for night shift. Usually a cert IV certificate holder, although now, NSW will have a RN on each shift. Out of that 120 staff on day shift, approx 80 of those are care workers/nurses.... the rest are management, admin, kitchen, cleaning, maintenance, laundry staff.
80 care staff to care for 300 clients. Earning $27 per hour, 8 hours a day, cleaning faeces, drool, blood, sputum, wiping bums, showering, feeding, dressing and undressing and redressing, toileting, making beds, medications, COMPLETING DOCUMENTATION (so time consuming), being spat on, wee'd on, hit, punched, bit, yelled at, dealing with all sorts of behaviours.... oh the list goes on. Old folk, fall over, lose balance, injure themselves, all time consuming medical events. Pallitative Care is time consuming. Wound care is time consuming. Feeding is time consuming. We only have 8 hrs to get all this done.
8 hrs on their feet to care for the people whose family could no longer cope with at home, for what ever reason.
While these nurses are at work, their own family is at home. While you are celebrating christmas lunch with your children, Nurses are feeding christmas lunch to your parents, while their own children eat Christmas lunch without us!
While you are enjoying a P/H day off, nurses are working it as just another normal day at work.
Conditions are hard....bloody hard! Yes, the facilities smell like old people, old people have a smell! Get used to it, it will be you one day!
Yes there are folk working in the industry who shouldnt be, but that can be said for ANY industry. I have reported many nurses in my time. I have seen bad nurses, but I have also seen and worked with some excellent and inspiring nurses too. I have seen great improvements in the AGED CARE INDUSTRY over the last 20yrs. You have it so much better now than you did 20yrs ago, trust me!
BUT having said there are bad nurses, there are ALSO some very obnoxious, hateful, ungratful clients too. And their families aren't much better, let me tell you!
There aren't to many careers where you are expected to work on your feet for 8 hrs strainght, heavy heavy work, finish work at 11pm, then be expected back at work by 7am start the next day!! (6am in some facilities)
Ageing in Place means folk can stay at home longer, with a Care Package. Wonderful stuff.
Since these packages have exploded into the community in bulk over the last 10-12 yrs, there has been a huge drop in Facility admissions in folk under 80yrs of age. Clients are entering facilities at ages 80 and above now, and often stay for a very short term. (less than 10 yrs) because they are entering the facility with complex health conditions, or later stages of dementia. This is heavy work for carers and nurses.
You cant do it but you expect someone else to do it.
The standard for any facility being built now, is single ensuite rooms. This has been in place for the past 10yrs, maybe longer.
Its the older facilities (and I do mean OLDER) facilities that still have 2, 3, 4 bed wards with no ensuite.
so with this in mind, by the time *some* of us enter a facility, you will have a single ensuited room.
Anyway, thats my 5 bucks worth!
(Still no excuse for magots in a client's mouth though..... that care was sadly, very lacking. Very lacking in deed)
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Be Kind To Nurses....
They Stop The Doctors From Killing You.
