Exclusive. Carol Altmann – The Terrier.

More than a dozen local GPs have signed a powerful letter to the Lyndoch Living board, calling for action on the “detrimental” impact to the health of current and former staff.

In an unprecedented move, GPs from across at least three separate Warrnambool clinics have asked the board to deal with the “serious situation” affecting both residential care and staff wellbeing.

To protect the individuals, I am not going to disclose the names of the signatories, but they include extremely experienced and respected GPs.

Here is the letter in full:

“We the undersigned general practitioners have taken the extraordinary step to write this letter to you to voice our concerns about the current situation at Lyndoch Living.

Over a period of many years Lyndoch has provided high level care to our residents and in large part this has been due to the input of the very dedicated, skilful long- term staff members.

We are aware that a large number of experienced staff, in both clinical and non-clinical areas have resigned and left Lyndoch in the last number of months. This includes several experienced unit managers and the previous Director of Nursing.

We are aware that a number of these ex-staff members have attended GPs for issues relating to their previous workplace experience.

We have also noted that the loss of so many experienced long- term staff has created extra pressure on the remaining staff and has negatively affected the level of patient care at Lyndoch.

We write as a group of local GP’s very concerned about the effects of this on the existing residents and remaining staff but also with significant concerns about detrimental health issues that have arisen in some of the staff members that have left.

We would ask you direct your attention to this serious situation as soon as timely possible.”

The letter was delivered to the Lyndoch Living board yesterday, after being circulated among local clinics in recent weeks to gather signatures.

The letter pulls no punches and forces the board to look at a critical and shocking part of this whole crisis: staff trauma.

While residents’ care is quite rightly a priority, so many staff have also suffered terribly at Lyndoch these past seven years.

As the GPs now make clear, they have been treating former and current Lyndoch staff for “detrimental health issues” directly connected to their working at Lyndoch Living.

I know these stories, because I have spoken to so many of these people – literally dozens over these past four years – including those who felt suicidal, those who suffer severe anxiety, or panic attacks, those who have been unable to work since, and those who still require medication to sleep, due to the trauma they experienced.

This is shameful.

What is unforgivable, however, is that the board knew staff were suffering.

They knew, and they continued to back the “on-leave” CEO Doreen Power until the very last.

The board knew, because it saw the staff survey results from January 2020 –  more than two years ago – that contained this damning paragraph:

“A small sample of around 10-15 respondents stated that the CEO’s culture of intimidation, manipulation and bullying greatly impacted their safety, health and wellbeing.

“They said they witnessed her bullying others and making decisions in regard to her own self-interests and not the organisation as a whole.”

The board read it and did nothing.

The board knew because it read exit interviews and letters from some of these former staff, but, until three weeks ago, continued to back the former CEO.

This is absolutely shameful.

More than 200 staff, including so many experienced hands, have poured out of Lyndoch these past two years and the flow-on has been catastrophic.

Survivors of abuse will understand that trauma is compounded by not being believed, by being ignored, and by having nowhere to turn other than to the abuser.

This is the Lyndoch story under Ms Power, who has a track record in this appalling behaviour, and who the board chose to believe above the poor, suffering staff.

Lyndoch needs to heal and this cannot happen under a board which has overseen so much pain.

At the very least, the Chair should accept full responsibility and resign.

The rest of the board must follow. Open up general memberships, call for board nominations, and, to quote Oliver Cromwell: ” In the name of God, go.”

[The petition to remove the Lyndoch board is open until 31 August. https://tinyurl.com/3nwac5nc You can download a physical copy here: https://tinyurl.com/2p9xd8x7]

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The plot thickens around the departure of the Lyndoch Living CEO, Doreen Power, with speculation that Ms Power’s sudden exit up the Princes Highway is linked to financial issues surrounding Lyndoch that are now under investigation.

I’ve spent the past nine days digging into exactly why the axe fell so quickly on the CEO last Thursday week (Aug 4) after years of allegations about Ms Power’s management style fell on deaf ears and the Lyndoch board continued to back her to the hilt.

As was reported here, Ms Power was confronted by board chair Sue Cassidy and treasurer Kane Grant and, soon after, left her office armed with two bags of belongings.

As was also reported here, the day before Ms Power left, WorkSafe had received a long list of complaints about Lyndoch lodged by a law firm on behalf of the complainants.

This could have been the final blow.

But no.

I have since learned there is mounting concern about Lyndoch’s financial position, including whether information relied upon to build Lyndoch’s financial picture has been accurate.

These concerns include:

the financial impact of changes to the payment system for home care packages, with Lyndoch no longer having access to a big pot of home care funds ($2.5 million as of March 2021) that sat in its bank account;

whether this big pot of funds for home care packages was used to pay for other services – say, for example, toward the new medical clinic – in the hope it could be later topped up by home care clients (a Ponzi-style approach);

the financial impact of much greater competition in home care packages, which has gouged Lyndoch’s home client list;

the financial impact of having between 50 and 55 empty beds across Lyndoch and May Noonan Hostel – unprecedented;

concerns about the impact of rising interest rates on the $12 million borrowed by Lyndoch to fund its new $22m medical clinic;

concerns about the financial impact of having five apartments for sale in the Waterfront Living complex;

the difficulty of selling these apartments amid concerns about the deteriorating condition of their exteriors;

concerns Lyndoch must legally pay out the owners and/or estate of these apartments after a certain time, regardless of whether the apartment has sold;

concerns raised by residents within Waterfront Living about the location and use of their annual maintenance fee/sinking fund.

That’s a lot to take in, but it all comes down to cash flow: what Lyndoch expected to bring in, what it has to pay out.

And the terrible possibility facing the Lyndoch board is that all is not what it seemed.

Two important things to say here:

First is that residential accommodation bonds are guaranteed by the Federal Government, so – regardless of where this ends – these are protected by law and residents and their families can take comfort they are not at risk of losing their money.

Second is that the resignation of the most recent Chief Financial Officer was clearly yet another warning bell.

In fact four Chief Financial Officers leaving in four years is not just a warning bell, but a big loud hooter that wakes everyone in the night.

If what I am being told now is correct, and I believe it is, then what we have always feared is coming to pass.

We tried to warn the board and they didn’t listen.

Collectively, this house-of-cards scenario was raised more than 18 months ago on this page, by the Terrier, then by former Chief Financial officer Allan Conway, and then by the Keep Lyndoch Living group which formed because of unanswered questions over Lyndoch’s finances.

Mr Conway set the alarm bells off, but nobody listened.

The Keep Lyndoch Living team led by Jim Burke and Prof James Dunbar tried to raise the alarm, but nobody listened.

And The Terrier – 162 stories later – tried to raise the alarm, and nobody with the power to act, listened.

But the board is listening now and so it must, because they are responsible for not asking the hard questions.

It is now incumbent upon the board chair Sue Cassidy and treasurer Kane Grant to step up and tell us what is going on.

They need to assure the community that all is well, that none of what I have raised here is correct, that Lyndoch’s finances are exactly as they should be, and that Ms Power is on annual leave because she decided to take a holiday to Port Douglas.

Now is the time for plain speaking, not bullshite about annual leave.

Now is the time for absolute, rock solid, honest truth.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

A senior executive at Lyndoch Living resigned today amid mounting concerns over a $22 million medical clinic that will be built by next year.

Dr Ed Rhode (BScMaths, BCompSc, MSME, PhD) was Lyndoch’s Director of Technology, Strategy & Transformation, and a key figure in the Lyndoch executive team.

Dr Rhode had been with Lyndoch for less than two years, despite – according to well-placed sources – being head-hunted for the position from northern Victoria.

His partner, also a Lyndoch employee, has also resigned today.

Prior to Lyndoch, Dr Rhode’s work history included a senior position in the health industry in the Goulburn Valley, where he worked professionally with the now CEO of Lyndoch Living, Doreen Power, in her former role as CEO of Seymour Health.

It’s not clear precisely why Dr Rhode resigned and I have not been able to contact him for comment tonight.

His resignation, however, comes a week after the resignation of two staff within the finance area of Lyndoch, including a senior staff member.

It also comes nine days after Lyndoch’s former Acting Chief Financial Officer Allan Conway went public (via The Terrier) with serious concerns over the proposed $22 million medical clinic and broader fears about Lyndoch’s viability.

Dr Rhode’s resignation also comes a month after that of board member, Percy Eccles, who had been on the Lyndoch board for almost 10 years.

In light of the legal precautions I must operate under when reporting on Lyndoch Living, I am reluctant to join the dots.

I – again – can only hope the board which, to date, has been stony silent, is across all of these resignations, that it is asking why senior people are leaving, that it has followed up with Mr Conway and his concerns, and that it is 100 per cent confident with the medical clinic project as it stands.

The board are the community’s eyes and ears for what is a community owned asset.

To wipe all of this away as being “operational” doesn’t cut it.

Just ask the former Warrnambool City councillors.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

I have learned that two staff – including a senior staff member – within the finance area of Lyndoch Living resigned today.

Another two resigned earlier this month.

In light of the legal precautions I must operate under when reporting on Lyndoch Living, you can make of that what you will.

But these resignations follow the former Acting Chief Financial Officer Allan Conway notifying the Lyndoch CEO Doreen Power of his serious concerns regarding the financial viability of a proposed $22 million medical clinic.

Mr Conway, who finished his 12-month contract in March, last night went public with those concerns.

Based on the information available to him, he does not support the medical clinic as proposed.

As a citizen, he holds fears for the future of Lyndoch Living.

And now the resignations from the inside keep coming.

When does this become a full blown crisis?

We have heard nothing from the board, who are chosen to represent the community that owns Lyndoch Living.

We have heard nothing from the chair, hairdresser and former Warrnambool City Councillor, Sue Cassidy.

We have heard nothing from the vice chair, the CEO of MPower Kerry Nelson.

We have heard nothing from the treasurer, Sinclair and Wilson accountant Kane Grant, who – surely – must be taking another, closer look at the numbers.

And we have heard nothing from any of the remaining five board members: Prof Rob Wallis, Andrew Paton, Ron Page, Suzanne Coulson and Lorraine Mielnik.

We have no independent members of Lyndoch who can speak on our behalf, as nobody outside of the board or Lyndoch has been accepted as a member in the past 18 months, and that includes our now Mayor Vicki Jellie AM.

In summary, the community has lost control of Lyndoch Living by stealth, aided and abetted by those who have blocked any involvement at every turn.

The consequences of that exclusion and obsequiousness are now, I fear, becoming clear.

I keep asking the questions in the public interest and below are the ones I sent last Friday lunchtime so the Lyndoch CEO and board knew what was going to be published Sunday night and had every opportunity to respond.

They have chosen not to.

In the face of this silence, I can only keep raising the alarm and hope that the community decides it has had enough and a group of community representatives demand the board hold an emergency meeting, with a full report back to the community they serve.

Email Friday 16 April, 1.25pm:

Dear Lyndoch Media Unit, Ms Power and board members,

I am writing to offer the opportunity for comment on the following matters for a piece I am preparing to publish this Sunday night.

I have received confirmation that the immediate former Chief Financial Officer of Lyndoch Living, Allan Conway, does not support the construction of the proposed Medical Clinic at Lyndoch Living and that Mr Conway has expressed his concerns directly to the CEO.

Further, in his capacity as a private resident of Warrnambool, Mr Conway has also expressed a broader concern over Lyndoch’s future viability.

Given the seriousness of a CFO raising such concerns and the governance responsibilities of Lyndoch Living, my questions to the CEO, to the board chair and to the board treasurer are as follows:

1. Has the CEO notified the board of Mr Conway’s concerns in writing?

2. Has the CEO notified the Department of Health and Human Services Victoria of Mr Conway’s concerns in writing?

3. Has Mr Conway been contacted by the CEO and the board in response to his concerns and to discuss them further?

4. What action/s does the CEO and board intend to take in response to Mr Conway’s concerns?

5. Given the limited surplus funds of Lyndoch Living, can the board outline where the funding is coming from for the $22 million Medical Clinic project?

6. Is the board comfortable with the level of risk associated with the Medical Clinic project?

7. Has a complete business plan been prepared and presented to the board for the Medical Clinic project?

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The former Acting Chief Financial Officer of Lyndoch Living has gone public with serious concerns over its proposed $22 million medical clinic and broader concerns about Lyndoch’s viability.

Allan Conway, who was acting CFO from March last year until last month, has confirmed he formally raised a number of serious concerns about the medical clinic project to Lyndoch Chief Executive Officer Doreen Power in the final days of his contract.

He has heard nothing since.

It’s of enormous public interest when Lyndoch’s most senior finance officer waves a red flag about a major project that is due to start any day and which could potentially cripple Lyndoch.

It’s not known, however, if Ms Power has passed Mr Conway’s concerns in full to the board, or how the board has responded.

I contacted Mr Conway after hearing that he had raised alarm bells internally about the proposed medical clinic and asked that, if true, whether he could detail these same, specific concerns publicly.

A very cautious (but brave) Mr Conway was able to say the following:

He confirmed that, “from the information available to him, he had formally advised Lyndoch CEO Ms Power that he did not support the construction of the new medical centre as currently proposed”.

Mr Conway has had no contact from Ms Power or the board since his contract was completed in early March.

In his position as a former Acting CFO, Mr Conway did not wish to comment further.

But as a long-term local resident, a former corporate services manager and local business owner, he commented that he was “concerned for Lyndoch’s future viability”.

I contacted Ms Power, Lyndoch Living chair Sue Cassidy, vice-chair Kerry Nelson, Treasurer Kane Grant and all other board members last Friday with a number of questions in response to the red flags raised by Mr Conway, but have received no reply.

Those of you who have followed The Terrier’s reporting on Lyndoch Living will know that it is litigious and we all have to pick our way very carefully.

At the same time, Mr Conway’s bright red flag cannot pass without full scrutiny: we all owe it to our elderly and vulnerable, and those who care for them.

If Lyndoch gets this wrong, it could face financial ruin.

So the first question we must ask is how will the three-level clinic be funded?

Where is the $22 million coming from?

I originally thought a large slice could come from again dipping into the refundable deposits (RADs) paid by residents as they enter Lyndoch.

RADs were used to pay for the $15 million Swinton Wing expansion.

By law, however, RADs cannot be used for buildings that are not related directly to care for the residents.

The medical clinic will have no direct benefit to the residents of Lyndoch.

It’s a commercial, for-profit entity that, as a first priority, needs to cover its own costs.

Whatever is left over may, one day, trickle into Lyndoch itself.

So, to be super clear, every dollar of Lyndoch funds that goes toward building and paying off the clinic is one less dollar available to our parents and grandparents in Lyndoch, or toward hiring staff to care for them.

There is no public information about how the clinic will sustain itself and when it expects to make a return back to Lyndoch Living.

What we do know from Lyndoch’s 2020 Consolidated Financial Statements, however, is that Lyndoch has limited surplus funds, and there is no government funding for this project.

This leaves Lyndoch with very few funding options and leads to more questions:

To build this clinic, will Lyndoch rely on a large, commercial bank loan that leaves it exposed to interest rate hikes?

Will the clinic make enough money to cover these loan repayments?

Will Lyndoch also use entry fees from the Waterfront Living apartments?

Perhaps, but this money was to improve Lyndoch facilities for residents – not a new building for GPs, a dentist, a radiographer, chemist and a cafe.

Will Lyndoch be dipping into other reserves, such as money set aside for staff long service leave or holiday pay?

And, above all, has the board undertaken its own due diligence for this project and the return on investment to Lyndoch?

We need answers – urgently –  and someone needs to step up beyond this page to find them.

Mr Conway is unable to say much, but he has said enough to expose the risks of remaining silent.

One more question for me remains: is the board still the voice of the community or has it lost its voice altogether?

If the silence of the board continues in the face of Mr Conway’s revelations, we will have the answer.