Tasmania's largest not-for-profit aged care provider on Monday unveiled major changes to its services, including job changes affecting up to 175 staff members, after a royal commission uncovered neglect at some of its its homes.
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The changes announced by Southern Cross Care CEO, Robyn Boyd, were in response to the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality, which singled out deficiencies at two of SCC's nursing homes - Yaraandoo at Somerset, and Glenara Lakes in Launceston.
Under the changes announced by Ms Boyd on Monday, enrolled nurses will be either offered voluntary redundancies or other positions within the organisation.
This is because of recent changes to the funding model, with the Federal Government no longer funding enrolled nurse positions, according to Ms Boyd.
She said the changes were about creating efficiencies in the wake of a report by accountancy StewartBrown, which showed that nearly two-thirds of Australian aged care providers operated at a loss.
"We'd be one of those providers, so we need to look at new and innovative models of care that create better care for the residents ... whilst creating efficiencies to support services," Ms Boyd said.
As part of the new model, leisure and lifestyle and servery staff will now be required to take training to serve in other caring roles.
"The catering staff and leisure and lifestyle staff [will be] trained in care services so they'll be able to be part of the care service team as opposed to siloed in separate pockets of services that also aren't included in the funding that the government put forward," Ms Boyd said.
But the changes have drawn scathing criticism from the Health and Community Services Union, which lambasted SCC for introducing the new model without consulting staff or unions.
"We think it's going to be detrimental to the care outcomes for residents in that they're obviously trying to get rid of important specialized roles of enrolled nurses, leisure and lifestyle officers and servery staff," said HACSU assistant state secretary Robbie Moore.
"They're trying to get carers to do more just so they can make it look like they're providing more care works or minutes as they will be required to do under federal government requirements, but they're just trying to dodgy the books, and at the end of the day, services will be cut to residents," he said.
He also said the enrolled nurse positions on the cutting block provide vital specialised skills in wound care and administering medication.
"These are all vital roles that are needed in aged care, and this is actually de-skilling the workforce by getting carers to do everything including serving food and other tasks better done by specialist roles."
Southern Cross Care operates nine facilities across the state, two of which - Rivulet and Rosary Gardens, both in Hobart - were hit with non-compliance orders last year for not meeting care standards.
The Yaraandoo nursing home near Burnie, which was last sanctioned with a compliance order in 2019, was singled out during the hearings of the royal commission, with one resident, Brian Harvey, comparing his lifestyle there to a "carcass in an aged care abattoir".
Ms Boyd said the organisation has taken onboard the recommendations of the royal commission, and the announced changes and the new "household model" is the response.
Other changes announced include recommissioning the kitchens in the south of the state at each of the care homes there.
These kitchens had been closed in order to save costs by operating a production kitchen at one site, then sending the hot meals to the other care homes in the southern region.
In the North and the North-West, all nursing homes kitchens were already operating, except Mount Esk, in St Leonard's, which is provided meals from Glenara Lakes in Youngtown.
Other changes under the household model included an expansion of wellness centres and gyms at sites, and more tailored and flexible services to residents, according to Ms Boyd.
"We will need goodwill, patience and understanding from all stakeholders as we transition to this new model, which puts the aged care resident front-and-centre of all that we do," she said.
Senator Jacqui Lambie said while she welcomed any response to the findings of the royal commision, she said she was "concerned" about the new model announced at SCC.
"I am a bit concerned about what this means for staff and residents. My office has already received a dozen calls from people who are confused and worried," she said.
"I'd like to hear some further details about the proposed model and the business case behind this. At the moment it begs more questions than it answers."
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