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Abstract

ompassion and decency in aged care.On my first day in ward Blank I witnessed three falls due to untrained care staff, two residents left without food at the 5PM dinner time (both of whom required 1:1 feeds as they were bedbound), and medication satchels from Webster Packs left on the ground in the nursing station. These satchels contained Schedule IV Drugs of Dependence like 25/50/75 microgram Fentanyl patches. They weren’t locked in the designated safe and anybody could have stolen them and deprived resident(s) of vital medicine.This was mind blowing. In that moment, I decided to document every lapse in care, in the hopes of improving the welfare for everyone involved at Blank. Why do none of the bed sensors work? Another example of your colossal mismanagement. Residents wandering off unsupervised in the dementia ward is downright dangerous. A 95-year-old fell and fractured her hip four days ago because you refused to hire maintenance technicians to fix the sensors. SHAME.As for your subordinates (both of whom blindly take orders from you because they’re talentless and couldn’t get a job anywhere else) Blank and Blank, they had no right to call me multiple times at 3am, on occasions your facility needed extra nurses to cover shortages. I’m not even sure your ‘pet’ Blank is a Registered Nurse (have you doctored her AHPRA registration?), she sure can’t write nursing notes, I had to correct all her mistakes on the IT database so diabetic residents received correct dosages of insulin.Every facility is short-staffed right now - we are knee-deep in COVID you dickhead. You’re the GM, why didn’t you request nurses from an on-call agency? Would the cost have eaten away at your bottom line? Why didn’t you come into the facility to work on the floor and help cover shifts? I note you aren’t a nurse and wouldn’t even know what to do, but at least you could carry around a few food trays and do some vacuuming.It would suit you.The ‘on-boarding’ training for new staff was non-existent. The wound charts weren’t updated regularly. The care plans were outdated and barely legible. Each resident had a few lazily written lines relating to their serious pre-existing conditions. I only work in this sector to apply the highest standards of care and you made this impossible. As a result, residents in rooms Blank, Blank, Blank, Blank and Blank, passed away during palliation without appro

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priate pain management surrounded by distraught family members. They were RIFE with bedsores as day staff hadn’t re-positioned them every four hours. This was YOUR responsibility to make damn sure everything ran smoothly within palliative protocols.I have photos of the bedsores and they’ve been forwarded to the relevant industry authority. Here’s hoping they come down hard on you and your hellish facility.Also, you underpaid me for 17 shifts, I took note, and you can either pay me or I’ll just call Fair Work Australia and you can cop an infraction (not your first I’m sure). Either way you aren’t cutting costs RE my wage that’s for fuckin’ sure. I’ve also kept in contact with some incredibly kind and qualified co-workers who’ll be forwarding me more information in the months to come.Hopefully, we can help the frail people under your roof, they are EVERYTHING and don’t deserve derelict medieval ‘care’. I’ve formed close bonds with many residents and owe it to them and their families to fight for some semblance of justice. Do reflect on how you’ve run this facility into the ground, perhaps one day you’ll come to your senses and develop a bit of empathy, are you familiar with that word?Insincerely yours, Edward…<figure id="b223"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/0*USVWiA3-SYAqiSLA"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@alex_boyd?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Alex Boyd</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h2 id="219b">I reported this facility to the Aged Care Quality Standards Commission yet nothing of note was actioned. Our entire sector is broken, largely ungoverned, and our aged population continue to suffer for this reason.</h2><h2 id="1fba">Thank you so much for reading and shame on Australia and my government’s lack of ACTION. I’m not leaving links to more of my aged care stories (you can scroll through my profile if you wish) when I’ve just penned a passionate and personal piece that deserves to be digested on its own :).</h2>My letter of resignation is food for thought and I hope it makes just one person think deeply about volunteering and/or writing to your local lawmaker. Nursing homes are flagrantly unregulated in Australia (no doubt in many other countries too) and the cries of our elders cannot be ignored for much longer.© Edward Swafford 2023 All Rights Reserved.</article></body>

AGED CARE | HEALTH

A Resignation Letter to The Worst Nursing Home in Australia

Fair dinkum

My boss had less intelligence than this lad. Photo by Bobby Mc Leod on Unsplash

At the rear end of 2021, as COVID lockdowns eased across Australia, I picked up a second nursing job at a nearby aged care facility to lend a helping hand. For context I’d been working in the sector since 2012.

Suffice to say the place was run by a megalomaniac and elderly residents were neglected beyond belief. I lasted three months and my resignation letter (scroll down to read) was scathing; it’s almost word-for-word.

I removed all identifiable staff and resident names, facility location, etcetera, and simply replaced anything legally tenuous with the word Blank.

Also, there are a few profanities throughout, if you’re offended by these consider yourselves forewarned!

Dear Blank,

I’ve come to the conclusion you and your ‘clinical team’ give zero fucks about the 146 residents ‘living’ (more like languishing) under your roof. As General Manager of Blank you’ve shown incompetence and downright contempt for residents, staff and nurses alike. It’s clear you’ve never had a job in the healthcare sector before you were parachuted in by the money-hungry Blank Board of Directors to put more pennies in their pockets.

I checked your LinkedIn account - your prior roles are all in the financial sector, your greatest claim to infamy was ‘fiscal competency and a re-alignment of operational resources’. In layman’s terms, you’re just a walking braindead cost-cutter, with a flagrant disregard for human welfare and/or any other poor soul who dare cross your path.

I have the luxury of telling you you’re an utter fuckwit. I’m no longer working for you and you have no sway over my future career; you’re so maligned within the aged care community in Australia anyway. Good luck torpedoing my forthcoming job prospects (which you’ll no doubt try to as you’re a mansplaining manchild in a baby boomer's body), nobody with a heart will listen to your words because YOU are the enemy of compassion and decency in aged care.

On my first day in ward Blank I witnessed three falls due to untrained care staff, two residents left without food at the 5PM dinner time (both of whom required 1:1 feeds as they were bedbound), and medication satchels from Webster Packs left on the ground in the nursing station. These satchels contained Schedule IV Drugs of Dependence like 25/50/75 microgram Fentanyl patches. They weren’t locked in the designated safe and anybody could have stolen them and deprived resident(s) of vital medicine.

This was mind blowing. In that moment, I decided to document every lapse in care, in the hopes of improving the welfare for everyone involved at Blank. Why do none of the bed sensors work? Another example of your colossal mismanagement. Residents wandering off unsupervised in the dementia ward is downright dangerous. A 95-year-old fell and fractured her hip four days ago because you refused to hire maintenance technicians to fix the sensors. SHAME.

As for your subordinates (both of whom blindly take orders from you because they’re talentless and couldn’t get a job anywhere else) Blank and Blank, they had no right to call me multiple times at 3am, on occasions your facility needed extra nurses to cover shortages. I’m not even sure your ‘pet’ Blank is a Registered Nurse (have you doctored her AHPRA registration?), she sure can’t write nursing notes, I had to correct all her mistakes on the IT database so diabetic residents received correct dosages of insulin.

Every facility is short-staffed right now - we are knee-deep in COVID you dickhead. You’re the GM, why didn’t you request nurses from an on-call agency? Would the cost have eaten away at your bottom line? Why didn’t you come into the facility to work on the floor and help cover shifts? I note you aren’t a nurse and wouldn’t even know what to do, but at least you could carry around a few food trays and do some vacuuming.

It would suit you.

The ‘on-boarding’ training for new staff was non-existent. The wound charts weren’t updated regularly. The care plans were outdated and barely legible. Each resident had a few lazily written lines relating to their serious pre-existing conditions. I only work in this sector to apply the highest standards of care and you made this impossible. As a result, residents in rooms Blank, Blank, Blank, Blank and Blank, passed away during palliation without appropriate pain management surrounded by distraught family members. They were RIFE with bedsores as day staff hadn’t re-positioned them every four hours. This was YOUR responsibility to make damn sure everything ran smoothly within palliative protocols.

I have photos of the bedsores and they’ve been forwarded to the relevant industry authority. Here’s hoping they come down hard on you and your hellish facility.

Also, you underpaid me for 17 shifts, I took note, and you can either pay me or I’ll just call Fair Work Australia and you can cop an infraction (not your first I’m sure). Either way you aren’t cutting costs RE my wage that’s for fuckin’ sure. I’ve also kept in contact with some incredibly kind and qualified co-workers who’ll be forwarding me more information in the months to come.

Hopefully, we can help the frail people under your roof, they are EVERYTHING and don’t deserve derelict medieval ‘care’. I’ve formed close bonds with many residents and owe it to them and their families to fight for some semblance of justice. Do reflect on how you’ve run this facility into the ground, perhaps one day you’ll come to your senses and develop a bit of empathy, are you familiar with that word?

Insincerely yours, Edward…

I reported this facility to the Aged Care Quality Standards Commission yet nothing of note was actioned. Our entire sector is broken, largely ungoverned, and our aged population continue to suffer for this reason.

Thank you so much for reading and shame on Australia and my government’s lack of ACTION. I’m not leaving links to more of my aged care stories (you can scroll through my profile if you wish) when I’ve just penned a passionate and personal piece that deserves to be digested on its own :).

My letter of resignation is food for thought and I hope it makes just one person think deeply about volunteering and/or writing to your local lawmaker. Nursing homes are flagrantly unregulated in Australia (no doubt in many other countries too) and the cries of our elders cannot be ignored for much longer.