Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The Keep Lyndoch Living community group has today launched a petition via the State Parliament, asking for the removal of the Lyndoch board.

You can read the full petition and sign it here: https://tinyurl.com/3nwac5nc

Sign it. Share it. Any Victorian resident can sign.

The petition to the Legislative Council asks for the State Government to work with the Federal Government to “take all possible steps” to replace the board with an administrator.

The administrator would remain until a new Lyndoch board can be elected via public nominations.

It has come to this.

Six weeks after more than 400 people gathered in the cold to call for greater transparency from the Lyndoch Living board, there has been nothing of the sort.

And judging by the non-sensical and insulting comments of the board Chair Sue Cassidy on ABC radio last week, the community will remain cut off, despite our many concerns around the care of our elderly and vulnerable.

The board has no interest or intention in engaging with the general community.

Trust in this board is now completely broken.

I hope this petition draws thousands of signatures between now and when it closes on 31 August.

It will then be tabled in Parliament by our local Member of the Legislative Council Bev McArthur, who delivered a statement to the rally on 5 June and who has continued to offer her full support to this cause.

A paper version of the petition will also be available at a public sign-up on the Warrnambool Civic Green next Sunday, 24 July, from 11am to 1pm. I plan to be there to help out.

Copies will also be available for you to take away to gather physical signatures from those unable to sign online.

All of the signatures – online and on paper – will be collated into one total.

Sign it. Share it. The message is clear: this board has to go.

[Disclosure: I assisted Keep Lyndoch Living to lodge this petition with the Legislative Council to ensure it met all the requirements.]

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The Lyndoch Living board – metaphorically speaking – slammed MP Roma Britnell at its meeting on Tuesday night but, in so doing, exposed its contempt for the community she serves.

Ms Britnell asked board chair Sue Cassidy if she, Roma, could address the meeting. She could.

As I understand it, there was also a guarantee that Ms Britnell would have a chance to speak to the board openly and confidentially (in camera), without the CEO in the room.

This didn’t happen.

Ms Britnell, armed with concerns from her constituents, arrived to find there was no ‘in camera’ meeting and if she had something to say, she would say it to the board and the CEO.

Things did not go well.

The board pounced and – metaphorically speaking – sent her packing.

Ms Cassidy, of course, has form on this sort of thing.

Yesterday, ironically, it was two years to the day since Ms Cassidy, as a one-term Warrnambool City Councillor, conspired with Crs Kylie Gaston, Mike Neoh and David Owen and threw the CEO Peter Schneider out the door.

Ms Cassidy, Ms Gaston and their two former colleagues are all still under active investigation by the Local Government Inspectorate for that act of bastardry, which resulted in an expensive and ugly court battle for Warrnambool ratepayers and a victory for Mr Schneider.

One of Mr Schneider’s senior employees, City Manager Andrew Paton, is on the Lyndoch board: the board which – metaphorically speaking – has just beaten up our local state MP behind the shelter sheds. That connection must be getting awkward.

On Tuesday night “from 5.35pm to 5.50pm” – as recorded in the board’s autopsy report posted to the Lyndoch Facebook page – Ms Britnell had a first-hand taste of what so many others have endured from Lyndoch’s hierarchy these past five years.

The bodies are piled high.

All of those experienced staff who have been cast out, had their reputations trashed, and been blamed for Lyndoch’s failings.

All of the families, who have tentatively tried to speak up, only to be bullied back into silence.

And the residents who have tried to raise concerns, including one recently who was effectively told they could always move elsewhere if they weren’t happy.

And now it’s our turn. The community is the enemy. We are the problem.

The person elected to represent this community took our concerns right to the heart of Lyndoch and got nowhere.

There will be no greater transparency.

We will not be allowed to become members of Lyndoch Living.

Lyndoch is no longer ours, but theirs.

Rather than listen to the people, the board is too busy congratulating itself for passing re-accreditation while Lyndoch remains in breach of multiple aged care standards across the nursing home, hostel and May Noonan. What a terrific system.

But the community isn’t stupid. We know a Captain Ahab when we see one and the board may wish to cast its eyes back to Seymour Health in 2012 to see how it ends: CEO gone, board gone.

It took the good people of Seymour seven years to win their bruising battle.

We’re up to year seven, and we’re right in the thick of it.

Punches are flying, teeth are being knocked out, eyes are blackened, but I can tell you this:

We’re not giving up.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Where does this end? Lyndoch Living has failed another string of national standards, this time in the care of its most vulnerable.

The Lyndoch Nursing Home – the high-care section of Lyndoch – has failed five of the eight standards in the latest audit by the national watchdog.

Last September, the nursing home failed three of the eight measures.

Now the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission report released online last night (5/7) reveals it has failed five.

This cannot be dressed up as success.

While thankfully some of the more shocking failings from last year – around pain, wound management and restrictive practices – have been addressed, the nursing home has gone backwards.

The whole of Lyndoch is going backwards.

Last week, I reported the Hostel had also failed multiple standards; a first in its history. The May Noonan Hostel in Terang is also in breach.

And once again, staffing is the key problem, with the needs of high-care residents falling through the gaps.

As I read this latest report, I remind myself that behind every case study is a real person; a vulnerable person living in Lake Lodge or the Audrey Prider Centre.

It’s distressing to read of the resident who experienced a “choking episode” at lunch, with no follow up assessment by a Registered Nurse, as required.

The resident’s GP was also not notified until this failing was pointed out by the audit team.

And it’s distressing to read of the resident who lost 8.2 kg over 3 months, prompting a referral to specialists and a care plan, which was then not followed through.

There is simply not enough staff to do the work required.

It’s not just me saying this.

The report found “a majority of staff, (residents) and representatives expressed concerns” about the staff shortages and the impact this was having on managing risks such as weight loss, falls and swallowing difficulties.

Staff shortages also affected residents’ enjoyment of daily life.

“Overall, sampled (residents) did not consider that they get the services and supports for daily living that are important for their health and well-being and that enable them to do the things they want to do,” the report says.

You can’t say it any more plainly: Lyndoch is failing in its core business.

We know the hard-working staff do their best, but Lyndoch has lost truckloads of experienced staff these past four years, and it’s showing.

All three arms of Lyndoch are now in breach, including the May Noonan Hostel in Terang.

All of this makes my head hurt and my heart ache.

You must feel the same way, especially after watching the train wreck unfold for almost four years.

The facts are now there for all to see.

Yet the board remains silent and, together with the CEO, are leading Lyndoch Living further and further away from what we expect as a community.

Where is the line in the sand?

Where are the consequences for failing our elderly and vulnerable? Where does the buck stop and with who?

A month ago, we gathered as a community and asked the Lyndoch board for transparency, accountability and action.

We are still waiting. There is a Lyndoch board meeting next Tuesday. It needs to put an end to this sorry chapter.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The Lyndoch Living hostel area has failed four out of eight national aged care standards following a spot audit in April by the aged care quality watchdog.

It’s the first time the hostel has been found to be non-compliant in multiple areas, following new standards introduced in July 2019.

This means, as of today, all three residential homes of Lyndoch Living  – the lower-needs hostel area, the high-care nursing home area (Lake Lodge and the Audrey Prider dementia wing), and May Noonan Hostel in Terang – have various breaches of the national standards.

The nursing home failed three out of eight standards last September, while May Noonan failed seven of the eight standards in July last year.

A fresh report into the nursing home is expected soon.

The latest Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission report into Lyndoch was released online on Monday, following a four-day audit of the hostel which caters for around 125 residents, and includes the new $13 million Swinton Wing and Riverside.

It found the hostel non-compliant in:

Standard 1: Consumer dignity and choice (failed one of six requirements)

Standard 2: Ongoing assessment and planning with consumers (failed two of five)

Standard 3: Personal Care and Clinical Care (failed two of seven)

Standard 8: Organisational Governance (failed two of five)

The 34-page report details a number of specific concerns, including the use of chemical and environmental constraints, a lack of consent, poor care plans, gaps in risk management and a lack of documentation in critical areas.

Several residents who were subject to environmental and chemical restraint “did not have appropriate documentation completed, nor were there risk assessments documented to guide the delivery of safe and effective care and services” to these residents.

“The service’s process to manage and minimise the use of chemical restraint is not effective,” the report says.

Although there was a “framework that provides guidance to staff in relation to restraint”, the processes also failed to identify a number of residents who were subject to chemical or environmental restraint.

As a result, “there were no authorisations or consents” and the residents “did not have behavioural support plans in place”.

The report also highlighted one incident where a resident was given an “as required” psychotropic medication by a personal care worker for being “agitated, anxious and paranoid”.

There was no record, however, as to whether the PCW had – as they must – consulted a registered nurse prior to giving this medication, or if they had tried other, non-medical methods to calm the resident.

The report found gaps in documentation meant Lyndoch could not always provide evidence of assessment and planning for potential risks to the health and well-being of hostel residents.

In one example, there was no behaviour assessment or management plan in place for a particular resident, despite numerous reports of responsive behaviours, and three incident reports of aggressive behaviour, since January this year.

More broadly, the report found residents (or their representatives) were disconnected from the care plan process, with little or no involvement.

Some had not seen their care plan, or didn’t know they could request a copy, while two residents didn’t have a care plan at all.

The report says Lyndoch has since taken steps to address the various failings, but as these changes were not in place at the time of the audit and their impact has not been fully evaluated, the “non-compliance” ratings would remain.

Interestingly, the hostel – which does not have mandated staff/resident ratios – passed Standard 7 for staffing, despite resident concerns around staff shortages.

The report says residents offered “mixed feedback” in relation to staff numbers, which “at times impacts choice and call bell response times”.

Residents said staff shortages meant “personal care is not being provided as per their preferences or not being assisted at times” while families “commented on the number of experienced staff leaving the service and how they were concerned about the impact” on residents.

The report noted “vacant shifts are covered by staff from other roles or some staff working extra hours” but made no comment on whether this was sustainable.

The commission has set out 15 recommendations for improvement as a result of the audit – you can read those at the end of the report here.

Lyndoch Living is up for re-accreditation in August, following 12-month delay due to Covid.

[Lyndoch Living has been contacted for comment and any response will be published in full.]

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Lyndoch Living’s multi-million-dollar health clinic was due to open next month: it’s still an empty shell.

This is the three-level, 6761sq/m, $22 million (at least) health centre being built right next door to Lyndoch on Hopkins Rd.

This project will either be a white knight, or a white elephant. It could kill Lyndoch.

The whole project is a huge gamble and it’s one the board decided to take about five years ago, without any public consultation, when for the first time in Lyndoch’s history, it borrowed a bucketload of money – about $12 million – to fund this grand plan.

On top of the $12 million, Lyndoch has redirected another $10 million from its own funds (not including residential bonds, which is illegal) that would otherwise have gone toward aged care.

So that’s at least $22 million which has to be recouped by Lyndoch, plus any cost blow outs, plus interest, plus taxes, plus maintenance and repairs, before this building turns a profit.

The building was supposed to be finished by next month, or August at the latest.

As we could see during the 5 June rally, it’s nowhere near it.

And so the huge floor space – equal to about four Olympic swimming pools – is nowhere near being ready to start taking tenants.

Which brings us to the first of many questions:

What is the new finish date?

What are the inevitable extra costs due to delays and the rising cost of materials?

And – most importantly – how many tenants has Lyndoch secured for the space?

The board was hoping for a full royal flush of up to 20 GPs, a dentist, a radiologist, acute care staff, pathology, allied health services, a café, a chemist and education/training facilities.

God knows where they’re all coming from.

Perhaps Lyndoch has a secret stash of healthcare professionals tucked away that the rest of regional Victoria can’t access.

The Warrnambool Medical Clinic, which Lyndoch bought three years ago, has 14 (full and part time) GPs but those contracts recently expired, and it’s not known how many have signed up for another three years.

I’ve asked Lyndoch CEO Doreen Power and chair Sue Cassidy for comment on all of these questions, but, once again, have had no reply.

I have also not had a reply about the directorships of the medical clinic company (Lyndoch Healthcare Pty Ltd).

The company has four directors: Ms Power; Unisex Cuts hairdresser Ms Cassidy; board member and Warrnambool City Council manager Andrew Paton; and, more recently, Sue Fleming who was previously with South West Healthcare.

How were these directors chosen? Were these positions advertised? How long are they directors for?

And the big question that nobody seems to be able to answer: will they be paid?

Given the clinic is a commercial venture, (not a charity or not-for-profit), you would assume the answer is YES!

The best I could get from Mr Paton, some months ago, was that he was not being paid “for now” and that any other suggestion was “hypothetical”.

So Lyndoch continues to pretend it can do what it likes, even when the future of Lyndoch is at stake, but we are getting mighty sick of the game, and so is the new Federal Government.

As MP Anika Wells tweeted last night: “Accountability and transparency will be at the centre of all aged care reform under the Albanese Government”.

It can’t happen soon enough.