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.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Long-standing Lyndoch Living board member Percy Eccles has resigned.

Mr Eccles, who has been a Lyndoch board member for nearly 10 years, said in a brief comment today that he resigned because he didn’t “feel I could have any more input, other than what I have already done”.

He declined to comment further.

Mr Eccles’ resignation comes as Lyndoch prepares to launch into building a $20-million-plus medical clinic on the former Tomlinson site that will house up to 20 GPs, a dentist, radiologist and education centre.

The ambitious project will be entirely funded by Lyndoch, including via bank loans and borrowing from Residential Aged Care bonds (as is currently allowed under federal aged care laws).

Mr Eccles’ resignation also comes as Lyndoch prepares to announce its new Chief Financial Officer, which will be its third CFO in five years, following the departures of David Knight and, later, Katie Wright who did not return from maternity leave.

Acting CFO Allan Conway – who filled in for Ms Wright – did not apply for the position and has also recently left Lyndoch.

Since Lyndoch first announced its $100 million masterplan in 2016, there has been growing concern over its ability to fund its rollout and the risks involved, particularly around the medical clinic which is due to open in 12 months.

A smaller, interim medical clinic is already under construction at Lyndoch, on the ground floor of the new Swinton Wing.

From what I am being told, there is a growing belief inside and outside of Lyndoch that the smaller medical clinic would be a far less risky investment and the larger medical clinic should be put on hold, if built at all.

In the meantime, we will have to wait and see if the board vacancy is advertised, or if a replacement for Mr Eccles will be appointed behind the scenes, as happened with the appointment of Prof Rob Wallis to replace former racing club CEO Peter Downs.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Oh a picture paints a thousand words.

Those of us who live or work near Lyndoch Living have this past week watched – and heard – Tomlinson Wing being razed right down to the last lounge chair left lying on its back in the rubble to make way for a multi-million dollar medical clinic.

Such is the secrecy around our community owned nursing home these days, we don’t know how much this clinic will cost – the last figure I saw published by an engineering firm was $24 million, but the plans have changed several times since then.

This clinic will house up to 20 GPs from the Warrnambool Medical Clinic, which Lyndoch now owns, and – presumably – by hiring GPs from elsewhere. It will also have a dentist, an x-ray and an acute care service.

To date, there has been no public discussion on how the business plan stacks up for such a huge investment, or the risks involved for Lyndoch, or the benefits it will bring to Lyndoch residents.

We are being asked to take it all on trust.

And trust is, frankly, in short supply around Lyndoch right now. That is what happens when you stop talking to the public and instead rely on spin.

Spin is how you turn a deficit into a surplus.

It’s how you get away with sponsoring a horse race and a corporate marquee at the May Races.

And it’s how you gouge up to 44% of a person’s home care package in admin fees.

So far, this gouging has helped Lyndoch build up a nice little nest egg of $3 million in cash.

No wonder Lyndoch is desperate to pump up its home care package clients: they are taxpayer-funded cash cows.

But is it sustainable? Is this really how home care packages are intended to work?

And, worse, is it a house of cards just waiting to crash, especially as the federal govt moves to close these loopholes?

Which brings me to this:

Last financial year, Lyndoch received almost $2 million more in taxpayer funds to pay for home care packages to help people stay in their own homes.

Did it spend almost $2 million more on supplying services?

No, it didn’t.

It spent almost exactly the same amount as the year before.

So where did this extra $2 million in taxpayer funds go?

Good question!

This was among the questions I asked Lyndoch yesterday in the ever-optimistic hope of a reply.

In the absence of any reply, I have perused Lyndoch’s figures and it appears this $2 million has been invested, which helps Lyndoch’s bottom line look better than it is.

The “surplus” for home care packages shot up from $234,398 in 2019 to $2.5 million in 2020.

A ten-fold increase in just 12 months.

The problem is, it’s smoke and mirrors.

This surplus is not Lyndoch’s money: it’s taxpayers’ money, given to Lyndoch, to provide home care packages.

It’s not supposed to be sitting around in a bank, earning interest and plumping up bottom lines.

It’s supposed to be helping people to bathe, or have their gardening done, or buy a new bed, or to supply hot meals, and if it is not being used for those purposes, then something is terribly wrong.

Fortunately the fed govt knows the system is buggered and is making long-overdue changes that it is rolling out as we speak.

A major change is that the home care money will no longer be paid in advance to places like Lyndoch.

It will be in arrears.

And by September, if new laws go through, the funds will only be paid for what has actually been spent, not sitting there waiting to be spent.

In other words, there will be no $2 million swashing around in Lyndoch’s bank account.

Given the demolition of Tomlinson, Lyndoch has a chance to reassure us that none of the changes planned by the fed govt (home care is just one of them) will make a jot of difference to its financial stability and it can plough on with its $100 million masterplan like there is no tomorrow.

If it doesn’t, or it can’t, then we should listen, very carefully, for the sound of the Queen of Hearts falling.

[Note: Lyndoch is about to hire a new Chief Financial Officer: its third CFO in five years.]

Sign up for new post alerts to your inbox. 

Tip Jar

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

As the year comes to a close, I wish I could do more for those who contact me about Lyndoch Living.

Whenever I write about Lyndoch aged care, I get a stream of messages from readers, most of whom thank me for just listening, even if I can’t help.

People care about Lyndoch and its residents, including the staff who have to go to extraordinary lengths just to get a message to me, for fear of being “caught” talking to The Terrier, but also the families of residents, and friends of residents.

I find so many of these messages heartbreaking and I feel powerless, because I can’t fix it.

All I can do is tell you – the wider community – what I have learnt and what I have investigated and hope that you, like me, won’t look away.

Like this message from a reader about the new $13 million Swinton Wing extension:

“..residents from (Tomlinson) have now been moved to the second floor of the new “dementia building” (my words). This means that all ambulant dementia residents are now “trapped” upstairs with no free access to an outside area where they can feel the breeze or sun on their face, walk on a “return” path through an enclosed garden area, and see birds hopping around.

“They now have no chickens to care for and secured outside areas for unsupervised activities are now nonexistent. ….. the new building is very impressive and state of the art, but soulless and clinical.

“Whoever thought that this was an improvement to the quality of residents’ lives has no understanding of the ageing and their needs. My alarm bells are going off and I feel this needs further investigation. Please.”

Please.

This is the new Lyndoch, I have learned, where pictures are not allowed on the new walls of the new rooms and the new TV that comes with the new room is the one a resident MUST use, even if they don’t know how to work the freakin’ new remote control.

And then there are the messages about “the rash”.

I have had so many messages about a “rash” that has been coming and going through the Audrey Prider Centre at Lyndoch for six months and I can – at last – write about it because the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has taken up the issue on behalf of their members – the nursing staff on the front line.

In a letter to Lyndoch last week, the ANMF has asked the question up front: is this rash scabies? And if it is, what is being done about it, and what has been done to support residents and staff?

The union has asked for a response by tomorrow (Dec 4).

If this rash is not scabies – I have since heard that it ISN’T – then what is it?

It is enough to have staff and family of some residents demanding more answers.

Another worry that has filtered through to The Terrier these past weeks is the mobile “black spots” within Lyndoch that means families calling after-hours to check on sick loved ones are finding the phones are either not answered (because nursing staff are in a black spot) or the call drops out.

All of those millions spent on expanding Lyndoch – and adding an IT specialist to the executive team – and the phone system is unreliable.

Perhaps instead of worrying about awards and nominations and getting its name up in fairy lights, Lyndoch needs to make sure it responds to these concerns – and I am only able to share a few of them here.

Speaking of lights, the big, new, illuminated, illegal corporate logo on Swinton Wing will be approved retrospectively by the WCC, but will not be lit up.

The lighting breaks the planning laws, but it took neighbours to tell them that.

Given the WCC head of planning is on the Lyndoch board, we can only assume that he had no idea this sign was going ahead.

I really hope Lyndoch receives a refund on the LED.

And I really hope that those who have concerns and fears and worries about Lyndoch will keep speaking up and find the strength to stand up, to light up, knowing that we – the community – has their back.

On we go.

[This is my last post for 2020. Thankyou so much to all of the terriers who have helped The Terrier to keep going in more ways than one. You are the voices behind this voice and I couldn’t do any of it without you.]