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.

The place I'm talking about was fine when it was run by a suburban council, but it has been taken over by a group whose core business is nursing homes. It has slipped back since. Age care is very lucrative. The Mafia uses them to launder money in the U.S; there is nothing to say the same thing is not happening here. I wouldn't put a dog in a nursing home.

//The place I'm talking about was fine when it was run by a suburban council, but it has been taken over by a group whose core business is nursing homes. It has slipped back since.//

That sounds rather socialist, ttbn.

As I understand it - things have changed regarding
nursing homes. They used to be operated by state or
local governments but things have changed - they are
now run by private enterprises whose fees are increasingly
becoming unattainable especially for those who do not own their own
homes. We had to find additional funding to accommodate our
mum in the best affordable nursing home that we were able to
find. Fortunately for us - the facility and the care was of a
higher standard, maybe because it was new and they were trying
to establish a good reputation. We have seen nursing homes
that were built ten years ago at a presentable level - today
they have become tired, smelly, and delapidated.

What is a killer is the extravagant bond that most places insist
on. One family member with their own home might be able to afford
it - two family members with the same home - can't afford it.

In SA we don't have a good record at all with caring for the aged. Fairly regularly we see hidden camera evidence of assaults on patients. The government-run Oakden facility is still being investigated for neglect and assault by staff. The government has done everything in its power to thwart the enquiry. The only sign of guilt has been the resignation of the Minister responsible.

The only thing the government has done is transfer people to another gulag. They have also transferred the same 'carers' that have been accused of assault and abuse to the same place!

The government mis-managed facilities are are far worse than the private ones. But the private ones are still not up to the standard that should be reflected in their enormous fees. My mother-in-law is well off, financially, so she is paying for neglect. My wife's family is looking into other options, but at 98, the old lady really wouldn't be keen on moving and, mentally, she barely knows what's going on. It's the family who are feeling the pain. It will be a blessing when she passes on. Nobody should have to go through the indignity of old age. Those a---holes who are blocking dignified departures are very hate-worthy.

Dear ttbn,

I feel so sorry for the situation that your mother
in laws is in. It must be very difficult for the
family. Old age should not have to be like this.
Things need to change. I can still recall a doctor
who told a family member when discussing their
relatives condition - "Well, what do you expect -
they're over 80?" Things like that make me cringe.
So unfair.

'...Nobody should go through the indignity of old age...' So says TTBN. A very powerful statement, and one that I'm in the midst of confronting as each day passes by. My two pet hates; are crimes against the young, and crimes against the elderly. Perpetrators should be dealt with, through the full force of the criminal law. And FYI offenders when sentenced to gaol need to be placed on 'protection' from other mainline crims. Such is the abhorrence held for these offenders against society's most vulnerable members.

I heard one such individual placed in the old OBS (Observation Section) for his own protection, had a metal pitcher of boiling water thrown into his eyes, thus blinding him permanently. Having received exhaustive, albeit failed treatment at Prince Henry Hospital , he was placed in the 'Front Yards' the highest level of protection in Long Bay, back in the late 1970's early '80s. And they still managed to terrorise him, by inferring they'd deposited excreta in his food? Whether the Gaol Warders countenanced such activity, I wouldn't know? All that I can attest to, is the utter revulsion these creatures are held in.

Just caught up with this thread. The biggest problems are, a lack of care, particularly in bottom end aged facilities. Places where profits are based on what can be gained from that left after costs from aged pensions. A dollar spent, is a dollar less for the bottom line. Poorly trained, and poorly paid staff, and lack of staff that is needed to proved the extra care many aged persons require are major factors in poor outcomes .
The poor quality food is just one part of the terrible conditions endured in many low cost nursing homes. The fact is countless numbers die prematurely each year through inadequate care.

In previous years, before urban expansion accelerated so rapidly, people lived near their siblings, parents and grandparents or often in the same house. They could care for the needs of elderly relatives, so there was no need for expensive aged care facilities which have become so dysfunctional under their corporate owners.

A Senate enquiry has found that auditors badly let down abused residents of the Oakden (SA) aged care centre by not being willing to learn from past mistakes. There was "deep concern" over the time it took to address complaints. There were many subsequent cases of abuse after the first cases were reported thanks to the tardiness of investigators.

The SA government and the incompetent Minister just didn't give a stuff. There should be be sackings and prosecutions. Not a good look for Wetherill with an election due in a few weeks.

Hi ttbn, there are deep seated problems with aged/mental care throughout Australia. Its not just limited to SA, or any one State, its systemic. When you combine neglect, both personal and institutional, with a under resourced system, you are bound to have horrendous inequalities, and from time to time such horrors as 'Oakden' are exposed. Sure, when incidents come to light there is much posturing by politicians and those responsible to claim "things will change", but the reality is somewhat different, "things" continue to deteriorate until the next shocker is uncovered.

Hi Foxy, your Mum was lucky to have such a loving, caring and concerned family. There are unfortunately many who are not so privileged. Those that have no resources, other than the aged pension, no family willing to care for them, or to provide for them, people who are simply abandoned to the system. I mentioned the lower end of the market, where private operators who are profit driven proliferate. In one case I know of in Sydney, the same operator owns no less that five such facilities, and does very well I am sure. "T" mentioned to me about one these places where food prep includes the use of the "mulie" as she called it. Leftovers of all kinds including eggs, vegies, even porridge, mince etc are placed in a pot and blended using the "mulie" then heated and fed to inmates as a meal. Often not consumed, or left to go cold, disgusting!
As ttbn pointed out, aged care is very lucrative, even more so if you spend next to nothing on the inmates.

Dear Paul,

I count our blessings daily. We have been fortunate
thus far - but who knows what the future will hold
for any of us. Aged care needs a big re-vamp and
governments need to step in to ensure more equity.
At the rate the aged care industry is growing they'll
price themselves out of existence and the government
will be forced to take action.

Hi FOXY...

Without causing you any distress or recriminations concerning aged care. But from what I've heard about some facilities here in Sydney, when I become too stupid and difficult to handle, my two friends Alex. STURM & Bill RUGER will assist in my relocation with their security six. I'd not spend a moment under the aegis of some aged facility's I've heard about, here in Sydney.

You and your dear Mum were indeed lucky to find a home that pursues ethical practices in aged care. Though as someone else mentioned the more you're willing to pay, the better I suppose? Take good care of yourself please FOXY.

Dear O Sung Wu,

Thank You for your kind words and well wishes.
We were fortunate to find such a good aged care
facility for mum. Even since her passing we've had
so much support from the staff there who've written
to us and kindly want us back and involved with
many of the residents. I have decided to return and
continue working part time as a volunteer. The people
there are like family to me - and I get so much out of
the inter-action with them.

Interesting section on nursing homes costing etc.

The checkout series 6 episode 3.

The Government subsidizes nursing homes per patient up to $214 per day they can use that for any purpose they like including executive salaries.