Released today: average of $6 a day spent on food for elderly inmates in nursing homes. Visited my 98 year old mother-in-law in her nursing home yesterday. The place smelt of piss. As an AMA spokesman said this morning, there is a race to the bottom in care for the elderly in Australia.

My mum who passed away on Australia Day this year
was in the Dementia Wing of a Nursing Home in the
Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. Her facility was a
modern residential aged care facility close to the
Yarra River and scenic parklands - just half an
hour from Melbourne's CBD.

Mum was in this facility for almost two years. I
worked there part-time as a volunteer. The facility
is simply stunning. Residents have many beautifully
landscaped courtyards that create a wonderful setting
for residents, family, and friends to come together.
Providing a relaxed and tranquil atmosphere.

Each of the resident communities feature their own
comfortable lounge and dining areas filled with tasteful
decorations - helping to create a homely atmosphere.
The place is kept immaculately clean daily.

The facility includes a Sportsbar, Parlour Rooms,
Terrace Cafe, billiards room, private dining rooms for
families and guests, and residents are pampered in the
hairdressing salon. Mum had a regular weekly appointment
to get her hair done.

As for food? They have an on-site kitchen which provides
fresh seasonal menus and a choice of cuisine at every meal.
Mum was given the choice of eating in one of the elegant
dining rooms or in the comfort of her own suite.

A very passionate Lifestyle
team are committed to providing residents with a
very wide range of activities to get involved with, ranging
from cognitive activities such as puzzles, card games,
painting, music therapy, arts and crafts, concerts,
day trips, movies, yoga, cultural and spiritual activities,
theatre, etc.
There is a laundry on site, podiatry, physiotherapy, dental
care, as well as personalised care plans are provided.

Did I mention the wonderful caring, and compassionate staff?
Nothing is too much trouble for them. They are a joy, and
never complain. Mum was very happy there, and the families
of the residents are totally involved in caring not only
for their own family members but we all looked out for each
other. We truly were like an extended family. I shall miss
them all - and am seriously thinking of continuing my volunteer
work there.

//Released today: average of $6 a day spent on food for elderly inmates in nursing homes. Visited my 98 year old mother-in-law in her nursing home yesterday. The place smelt of piss. As an AMA spokesman said this morning, there is a race to the bottom in care for the elderly in Australia.//

Nursing homes are not government agencies. They are businesses. They exist to generate profit. They can only really increase profits in one of two ways: either they can increase their revenue, or they can reduce their costs (or both). There is only so much can money you can wring out of the aged - once they've expended their retirement savings and signed over the family home to the ownership of the company to cover the cost of their care, there's not really much more the aged care provider can squeeze out of them. You can't get blood out of a stone.

So that just leaves cost cutting as the means by which to increase profit. Which means crap food, lax cleaning standards, insufficient care etc.

The answer is better regulation of nursing homes. I know you won't like that idea because you favour small Government. But if the aged care providers won't regulate themselves responsibly, then it is the job of Government to do it for them.

FOXY
MY dad has recently gone into a nursing home, its a well run facility with attractive
rooms and indoor facilities, but I really feel there should be more garden areas like you describe at the place your mum is in.
We looked at a few homes here and they all seem to be lacking in very much land set aside for gardens. Of course provideng big areas of land and gardens is an extra cost to nursing homes.

They are very expensive. It used to be that it was 85% of the old persons pension, now you have to sell the house as well as it taking all the pension except about $21.00 a month. If your wife or husband is still alive, one person is left owning half a house they previously owned, if one person has to go into a home.

If you are well off money wise you dont have as much worry, as you get in more quickly and you can afford to pay outright for the rooms, which means the family gets the money back when their Mum or Dad dies. If however the money you get from the sale of your Dads house doesnt match what they want for the room price. They continuously draw down on the proceeds you give them from the sale of the house. Although the payments drop down the more money you manage to raise.
So as it stands the more well off you are the less worry you will have.
But isnt that true,the world over.

Dear CHERFUL,

Nursing homes are expensive. I don't know of any
worthwhile one that isn't. And certainly you have
to really look long and hard to find one that suits.
We looked at so many of them prior to choosing this
one for my mother. However, mum has now passed away.
She was the last of our parents to go. I am just
glad that she did receive good care right up to the
end.

The answer more likely is at the top.

The salary and extras of all senior staff, that is where you will find most of the money going.