Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Lyndoch Living’s failure to care for the elderly and frail was kept under wraps for more than a year, during which things didn’t improve –  but got worse.

That little bombshell was wrapped up in MP Dan Tehan’s media statement issued in response to The Terrier exclusive on Tuesday night.

Mr Tehan said the nation’s top aged care watchdog visited Lyndoch in response to a complaint way back in February LAST year.

As a result, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission slapped Lyndoch with a non-compliance order for Personal and Clinical Care (aka, the very reason an aged care home exists).

Never fear, Lyndoch assured the commission at the time, they had a plan!

Fast forward 12 months to January 2021 and the commission re-visited Lyndoch to find the situation was not better, but far worse.

How is that allowed to happen?

As revealed exclusively here on Tuesday night, Lyndoch failed not one, but three out of four standards, including using chemical restraint without consent, and failing to appropriately monitor residents after serious falls.

And when it came to staffing, the commission could not have been more blunt: “(Lyndoch had) not ensured the delivery of safe care and services”.

If Lyndoch can’t get this right, what is it there for? To sponsor golf and horse racing?

Lyndoch’s three-year accreditation comes around again in August.

Lyndoch told the paper (it doesn’t respond to The Terrier) that it has an “action plan”, none of which has been detailed or publicly costed.

There is no mention of it on its website.

Once again, we are kept in the dark by a board and Lyndoch executive who are failing to deliver Lyndoch’s core business.

If The Terrier had not been tipped off about this latest report, nobody would know a thing about any of this.

“This” is the neglect that follows as a natural consequence of our nursing home not having enough staff, not having enough qualified staff, getting rid of experienced staff, and staff quitting because they are physically and emotionally exhausted.

At least 120 people have left Lyndoch in recent years, from very experienced and senior operators, down to those who only lasted a year or two.

These are the ever-growing band of alumni dismissed by Lyndoch as “disgruntled workers”, when in fact they are soldiers returned from the battlefield with warnings of what lies over the horizon.

“This” is a consequence of changing priorities where Lyndoch will overload itself with executives, but can’t fix the nurse call-bell system that is still unreliable.

“This” is a culture that will happily see Lyndoch go into massive debt for a new $24 million medical clinic based on an invisible business plan, rather than hiring more hands and hearts on the ground.

This is not the fault of the nursing and care staff: the moral collapse starts with the executive and board who set Lyndoch’s vision and priorities.

Don’t just take my word for it.

Take it from former Lyndoch Director of Nursing Penny Iddon who wrote this on the Terrier Facebook page after the breaking story:

“Poor standards of care are a direct result of poor and inadequate management oversight.

“The Board, the CEO and the senior nursing staff must take responsibility for this appalling result. The Board can no longer bury their heads in the sand and the CEO can’t keep passing the buck.

“After all, what the Auditors reported on regarding poor and outdated care practices has been allowed to continue under their watch which indicates a clear breakdown of systems, protocols and values.”

We have now seen in stark detail this week how Lyndoch is breaking down.

It has broken down in its duty of care.

And there are fears if the medical clinic goes ahead at the scale which is planned, it will break down financially.

How ironic, then, to see the Lyndoch CEO listed among the guest speakers jetting off to at an aged care forum next month in Sydney.

The topic?

Attracting and retaining new talent to revitalise your workforce.

 

Exclusive

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

A string of failings at Lyndoch Living has been exposed in a damning report by the national aged care watchdog.

A report released by the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission in March – but which I was alerted to only today – lays out a shocking series of inadequacies recorded after a two-day visit by the commission to Lyndoch in January.

The commission is the peak federal body for assessing and accrediting aged care homes and for handling complaints.

Its assessment team found Lyndoch was non-compliant in three out of four key measures for resident care and staffing.

A separate report released at the same time shows the Lyndoch Hostel section passed on all measures, but an 11-page report into other, unidentified, sections of Lyndoch reveals a story of wounds, falls, pain, lack of consent, outdated records and crying out for help.

The report focusses on five specific residents, and it makes for heart-breaking reading.

Here are some of its findings:

Resident one, who was living with severe dementia, experienced “breakthrough” pain levels daily for three weeks without receiving any further pain medication, pain assessment, monitoring or evaluation;

A pain assessment plan set out by a specialist team was not followed;

The specialist’s recommendation that a pain medication patch be increased was not followed;

This same resident also had several wounds which were not adequately overseen by staff;

In regard to one of the wounds, all four management plans failed to record if the wound was getting better or worse, with boxes on wound size either unchanged or left blank;

Another resident was being given antipsychotic drugs “as required” – which is defined as chemical restraint – with no proof of consent:

“The representative of the [resident] told the Assessment Team that they had not provided consent and were unaware of any potential side effects of the use of the medication,” the report says.

A third resident had a fall and was hospitalised overnight with a significant laceration but, upon returning to Lyndoch the next day, was not reviewed for pain or possible brain injury:

“The Assessment Team found that staff did not undertake a timely review of the consumer’s pain on return from hospital and did not undertake neurological observations.”

This same resident later developed shoulder pain, but an order for stronger pain relief was not processed until two days later, with a GP review three days later.

A fourth resident, who lives with dementia, had an unwitnessed fall, but was not assessed for pain or a possible head injury.

Two days later, the same resident had two more falls which “qualifies” for a CT scan, that occurred.

The report says Lyndoch refuted the assessment team’s statements about this incident and also questioned the accuracy of its findings.

The team, however, stood by its report.

It says “the key points were timeliness of pain review following a fall and whether staff undertook neurological observations. Particularly …. for unwitnessed falls where the consumer could have hit their head…”

A review of records of a fifth resident, who was on psychotropic medication, found the medication records were out of date.

As a result of these incidents, Lyndoch was found to be non-compliant in standards for Personal Care and Clinical Care.

It was also found to be non-compliant in Human Resources and had “not ensured the delivery of safe care and services”.

The assessment team said it witnessed staff rushing tasks and staff walking past a resident who was calling out for help without stopping to offer support or assistance.

A review of the roster across a two-week period found some shifts were unfilled.

It also found failings in infection prevention and control, including:

poor use of personal protective equipment by some staff;

social distancing not always being adhered to by some staff and;

not taking all reasonable steps to prevent visitors who do not meet entry requirements from entering the facility.

Staff shortages and a lack of suitably qualified staff also came under fire:

“the skills of the current mix of staff delivering the care are inadequate and are not meeting the current needs of (residents).”

So there it is in black and white: Lyndoch is failing in its core business of caring for our elderly and frail.

It is failing some of the most vulnerable people in our community and yet there are still those within Lyndoch who will deny, deflect and head to the May Races.

This is not the fault of the exhausted Lyndoch staff.

The buck does not stop with them: it stops with those who decide the priorities of Lyndoch.

Right now, the number one priority for Lyndoch is building a $24 million, 3000sq/m medical clinic with no clear benefit to the residents.

This is how disgracefully lop-sided things have become and how far Lyndoch has drifted from its core purpose.

And so we have reports of wounds, falls, pain, missing records, soreness, sadness and crying out for help.

This is not happening in a private aged care home deep in the outskirts of Melbourne: it is happening in Warrnambool, in a place owned by us, the community.

Why has Lyndoch not told us about this report, apologised for its failings and pledged to do better?

Do we simply shrug our shoulders and say “that’s how it is in aged care” and turn away?

I can’t turn away and I know you can’t too.

We have to be the voice of the voiceless and refuse to accept silence as a solution.

[The commission has set down seven areas in which Lyndoch must improve to avoid any risk to its accreditation. You can read those here. It should be noted the commission says Lyndoch has challenged or refuted many of its findings. You can download the full report here.]

 

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

A couple of weeks ago, Lyndoch Living hired a Melbourne consultant to survey staff and unearth whether, essentially, any of the issues raised here these past six weeks are true.

The online survey, which closed at 5.30pm today, is at least an acknowledgement by Lyndoch that it can’t ignore the stream of allegations around its workplace culture, but I have little confidence that it will reveal very much at all.

Why? Because I doubt many staff will be brave enough to respond, or to answer openly.

First, the Survey Monkey survey is intended to be confidential, yet so many people within Lyndoch that I have spoken to are nervous that as it was sent to their Lyndoch email address, it could be traceable.

Second, the “confidential” survey asks what area of Lyndoch the staff member works in.

Thirdly, the “confidential” survey asks if anyone has an “extensive issue” that they would like “someone” (who??) to call them about, or to see them about, to please provide their contact details.

 

Finally, just days after this survey was sent out, Lyndoch board chair Kerry Nelson issued a statement to all staff which emphasised the board’s full support for Lyndoch CEO Doreen Power.

Ms Power, at the end of the day, is responsible for any workplace issues which could be flushed out by the survey.

In other words, before nervous staff have even spoken up via the survey, the person who is ultimately in charge has been absolved by the board of any responsibility.

Given all of the above, would you fill out this survey without fear or favour?

What Lyndoch still struggles to grasp is that the allegations around Lyndoch are not from one or two disgruntled staff who have turned to a journalist, but a stream of people who have come to me as their last resort.

I didn’t approach these people – they approached me and they continue to approach me, because they no longer trust the internal workings of Lyndoch to listen, to protect, to nurture and to restore their faith in their workplace.

It’s exactly what happened around the misuse and abuse of credit cards within the Warrnambool City Council, when whistleblowers pushed information to me because they no longer trusted the internal systems, and no bloody wonder.

 

The council, in its newfound transparent culture, has hounded those who it believes “leaked” information, rather than ask why information was passed on in the first place, or be grateful to those who had the courage to do so.

It’s the same attitude behind Lyndoch threatening dismissal of staff members who express an opinion on The Terrier Facebook page or, heaven help them, clicks “like”.

I can only say to the Lyndoch board and executive: wake up and smell the coffee.

Instead of spending time and money on Survey Monkey, public relations spin, and hunting down staff who click on The Terrier, the board and executive should be diving deep to build respect, empathy and trust.

The first step should be the appointment of an experienced, independent reviewer who can take the time to conduct private, in-depth, face-to-face interviews, off site from Lyndoch.

The second should be the board insisting on summaries of staff exit interviews, which I can only assume doesn’t happen already.

And the third is creating a culture not of  “yes, sir, no, sir, three-bags-full-sir” but which encourages the question of “why?”

The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, the Honourable Anne Ferguson, recently spoke about the need for a “questioning” workplace culture as an essential part of a healthy and safe work environment.

And as Lyndoch is community owned, it is not just the staff who should be encouraged to ask questions, but all of us, with an expectation of answers.

Yet, after six weeks of my hammering on the door of Lyndoch, there are still so many questions:

about staff turnover, horse race sponsorship, the racing corporate marquee, the $100 million masterplan, the “state of the art” medical clinic, staff shortages, why there is still only one Registered Nurse on night duty for 200 residents, board selection, the new constitution, core values, contracts, equipment, and corporate cars (which I haven’t even got to yet)….

 

We still don’t even know whether Lyndoch made a surplus or deficit last financial year.

So while Nero tunes up his fiddle on Hopkins Rd, we will rest, regroup and we will keep pressing on, after Christmas and New Year, until we have the answers.

Thankyou to every single person who has helped the Foxy Fighting Fund. If you would like to make a small contribution, you can do so below.

The Foxy Fighting Fund

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

If there was ever a picture of how Lyndoch Living is losing touch with its priorities, it is this one.

This is a linen shelf that should be stacked with towels, sheets and face washers that is almost empty half way through a shift.

This is allegedly not unusual, despite Lyndoch  – a charity – getting geared up to spend millions of dollars to build a “super clinic” on its Hopkins Rd site as part of a $100 million masterplan.

Unbelievably, some nursing staff are cutting up old towels to use as flannels for showering and freshening up residents   – sorry, they are now called consumers – rather than rely on the back-up of wet wipes.

Other staff are hiding linen on Fridays so they have enough towels, sheets and face washers to get through the weekend.

Has it really come to this, you ask? Yes it has, and we need to know about it.

Lyndoch – a charity – has also just signed on to again sponsor the Grand Annual Steeplechase (at a cost of what, $70,000? $80,000?), yet a machine used to pulp cardboard urinal bottles has been out of action for months.

This means the cardboard bottles are carried by nurses across a dining room to another machine for disposal.

These are just some of the cracks that start to appear when a short-staffed system is under rising stress, and, my word, we need to know about it.

In recent years Lyndoch has somehow lost sight of its core business, which is caring for the aged and infirm both in the nursing home and in-home care.

To most residents, this means tasty, nourishing food, having someone to talk to, and being cared for by nursing staff with the time, support and full resources to do their jobs properly.

This should be the number one and only priority for any aged care home, especially Lyndoch.

Lyndoch, we need to remember, is a not-for-profit, benevolent, charitable organisation that was set up more than 60 years ago by the Warrnambool community for the community.

We ultimately own Lyndoch, but it is run by a board on our behalf who, in turn, hire the CEO.

Lyndoch has plenty of money to fulfil its core business, receiving almost $30 million last year in government funds and another $6.1 million from client fees, with net assets worth $51.2 million.

You would think that every dollar would be directed toward the care and comfort of residents, including hiring and keeping quality nursing staff who are paid well, treated well and given all the resources they need to do their jobs well.

But no.

Instead, as I wrote last week, the staff are run off their feet and even when they do the best they can – like cut up towels for face washers – it is not enough.

At the same time, the Lyndoch board and CEO Doreen Power are pressing on with a $100 million masterplan, including borrowing money to build a multi-million dollar medical clinic on site for GPs, dental services and a chemist that nobody has proven is wanted or needed.

And at the same time, the number of admin staff at Lyndoch – a charity – has ballooned in the past three years from 37 to 59, with many having titles straight out of an episode of Utopia:

Director of People and Resilience; Social Inclusion and Entrepreneurial Manager; Operational Support and Improvement Manager; Project Manager Safety and Wellness.

All of those soapy titles and yet the culture is turning toxic and staff morale is sliding to rock bottom.

And then there is a revolving door of consultants who, between them, cost thousands for their expert advice.

I wish I could tell you exactly how much is being spent on consultants, but Lyndoch is yet to release its full financial figures and, given its new-found secrecy around such things, I doubt we will find the answers there.

Lots of really wonderful people work at Lyndoch and terrific things happen there as a result of their efforts, but I also know that so many are struggling to hold it all together.

We can either hold our head in hands, or we can actually hold the Lyndoch board to account and ask “what is being done about it?”

Chair Kerry Nelson has not responded to my questions. There is silence from all the other board members: Sue Cassidy, Ron Page, Peter Downs, Lorraine Mielnik, Percy Eccles, Kane Grant and Andrew Paton.

Are they so bedazzled by Ms Power’s “big vision” that they are not asking the tough questions? Do any board members or Ms Power ever wander down to chat with nursing staff and ask how they are managing?

As I understand it, some nursing staff have never met the CEO after almost five years.

I have never met the CEO and she will not return my calls or my emails, so – again – I can’t tell you Ms Power’s response to any of the above.

This silence is familiar territory to me, but just as with the Warrnambool City Council credit card scandal, I am slowly building a picture and the questions will keep coming because the community created Lyndoch, we care for Lyndoch and we have every right to know what is really going on.

More soon.

If you would like to support the work of The Terrier, please consider throwing something in the tip jar.

Terrier Tip Jar