Southern Cross Care Fairway Rise home in Lindisfarne , Tasmania . Picture : Richard Jupe / News Corp Australia .
New model
Southern Cross Care chief defends household care strategy .
By Elise Hartevelt
A controversial decision to move lifestyle and admin staff into carer roles has been defended by one of
Australia ’ s major aged care providers .
Southern Cross Care Tasmania announced in mid-November its plans to train lifestyle , kitchen and leisure staff to provide direct care to residents .
But the new model has been labelled ‘ diabolical ’ by the ANMF , who joined aged care workers on a day-long strike to oppose the SCC ’ s reforms .
Southern Cross Care Tasmanian chief Robyn Boyd said the move was a direct response to the Royal Commission ’ s recommendations .
“ This is all about residents and their quality of life and care ,” Boyd told Aged Care Insite .
“ Everyone is so heavily focused on staff and nurses . “ But what about the residents ?” Southern Cross Care ’ s industrial overhaul came after three homes were issued notices for failing to comply with minimum aged care standards , including one in August 2022 .
The household model is expected to come into force over the coming months and will split up buildings into different communities with allocated carers .
Indirect staff will be trained to qualify for Certificate 3 , after which they will provide personal care , cook meals and administer medication .
Boyd said the reforms would see that all of Tasmania ’ s nine aged care homes meet the minimum compliance standards .
“ We ’ ve responded and came up with a model we believe will provide our residents with better care , more stability and a better quality of life ,” Boyd said .
Yet , the new model has caused an uproar among workers , who rallied outside their workplace to oppose the changes that they believe will abolish specialist roles , including enrolled nurses .
The ANMF said the overhaul would push nurses out of aged care by altering their job positions .
“ We ’ re very concerned about how it will affect workload ,” ANMF Tasmania branch Chief Emily Shepherd said .
“ Providers certainly know the Royal Commission recommended more nurses in aged care , not less .
“ Unless the government steps in , we fear there ’ ll be even more sackings across the sector .”
The ANMF has urged the government to set mandates around skill mix percentages or registered and enrolled nurse care minutes .
Health minister Mark Butler expressed his opposition to the move of Southern Cross Care ‘ proposing to terminate the employment of longstanding , experienced and dedicated nursing staff .’
“ We strongly urge Southern Cross Care to reconsider its decision ,” Butler said .
Boyd said the board consulted with the Commonwealth before introducing the new care model .
They were advised that enrolled nurses would be included in the care minutes , meaning providers need to pay nurses as nurses but will receive funding solely for carers rates .
“ Southern Cross Care did not make a policy to exclude enrolled nurses from the registered nurse minutes – that was the Commonwealth ,” she said .
“ We understand not everyone will be happy with the changes .
“ But we ’ re not forcing anyone to make decisions they ’ re not happy with .”
Forty enrolled nurses will be offered voluntary redundancies or reemployment opportunities to , for example , their new Wellness program .
“ Not everyone
will be happy with the changes .
Aged Care Insite also spoke with Janine , an aged care worker who works for one of Victoria ’ s major non-profit aged care providers .
Their home also adopted the household model a few years ago , after which residents gained weight and were significantly happier .
“ In theory , the household model is wonderful ,” Janine said . “ But there ’ s just not enough staff . “ We should also not be administering medication to residents .”
Janine said they faced issues around the household model due to a lack of staff , unsafe medication administration , and an unbalanced skill ratio .
The provider initially changed the jobs of enrolled nurses to work as carers while receiving their original pay .
But then , they started to pay them at the same rate as carers and were offered redundancies .
Janine said they now have a handful of enrolled nurses who can only work in the traditional areas .
“ Mistakes started to happen when enrolled nurses left , and laundry people hadn ’ t done the core modules ,” she shared .
“ We didn ’ t have properly trained workers nor enough staff to begin with .”
Aged care provider Catholic Health Australia has applauded Southern
Cross Care ’ s decision to come up with solutions to improve care despite the sector ’ s financial hardship .
“ It ’ s unfair to single out one provider to send a signal to the broader sector when that one operator continues to invest in its services and deliver care ,” Catholic Health Australia chief Pat Garcia said .
“ Letting enrolled nurses contribute to the 40 nurse care minutes will ease the burden on registered nurses and help providers find enough staff .”
Since Southern Cross Care ’ s announcement , Boyd has been meeting with its staff and residents to discuss the upcoming changes .
She said she ’ d received overall positive feedback from workers .
“ We hope the household model will provide our residents with a better quality of life , more flexibility and stability and better decision-making about how they live their lives .
“ Because first and foremost , we need to think about our residents .” ■
agedcareinsite . com . au 3