Senior staff in the gun as Lyndoch Living looks for scapegoats
Lyndoch Living is looking for scapegoats for its recent failings, with senior nursing staff in its sights.
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Something nasty is brewing at Lyndoch Living, with senior care staff being lined up as scapegoats for its recent failings in aged care standards.
My understanding is that one of those is the Director of Nursing, who has been expected to absorb an almost indescribable amount of pressure.
Lyndoch has already gone through one Director of Nursing in the past six years.
If the current DON does not survive, then it will be two. Do you see something wrong here? I do.
At least one nurse unit manager has already resigned.
That individual was given an impossible task, managed to some how pull it off, but has been chucked over the cliff anyway.
Another two senior individuals who have been pulled into the gunsights have taken sick leave.
This is not where the blame must fall.
Staff have been crying out for more support, more resources, and more trained staff to help meet the needs of 240 residents.
These resources have not arrived.
The care staff at Lyndoch have been working under-resourced for too long and THIS is why it has failed the national standards.
The chickens are coming home to roost.
As I have written about so many times before, those working on the floor have been struggling to cover shifts.
New nursing staff and personal care workers have often found themselves completely overwhelmed.
Some newcomers have been thrown into situations where they are caring for an entire ward, on their own, overnight.
Similarly, just one single Registered Nurse is often in charge of the whole place overnight.
Add to this the unreliability of the nurse communication system and the failings of the resident call bell system and you have a pressure cooker full of stress, anxiety and downright fear.
This is what is happening at Lyndoch Living.
Residents cannot possibly receive the best of care in these conditions and they are conditions that the staff have been struggling under for years.
And the brewing storm is not confined to the nursing and care staff.
My sources tell me that other areas, including the catering and kitchen staff, are also now under the hammer with cuts.
At the same time, Lyndoch is spending millions – millions – on a medical clinic that nobody asked for, and nobody wants.
As a journalist, I am not supposed to “take sides”, but I refuse to stand on the false fence of impartiality when I see wrong-doing and people about to be hurt.
So what do we do?
Do we all just stand back and watch this unfold and leave these hard-working staff to take the rap?
No. No, we don’t.
What we do is once again call upon the board to stand up, to step in, and to speak up for these staff members who are a part of our community: they are us.
Silence and sitting back is no longer an option Ms Cassidy, Ms Nelson, Prof Wallis, Mr Grant, Ms Mielnik, Mr Paton and Mr Page.
Don’t look away.
Pressure point: MP acts on explosive Lyndoch staff survey
Carol Altmann – The Terrier
South West Coast MP Roma Britnell is taking action in response to a leaked copy of an explosive Lyndoch Living staff survey.
Could this be the moment when someone with power grabs the wheel and steers HMAS Lyndoch away from the iceberg?
Many of the long-suffering staff – past and present – will hope so.
Before I give you a snippet of the damning survey responses (brace yourself), I asked Ms Britnell if she had received a copy and what she intended to do about it.
She could have said, “sorry, Terrier-blogger-journo-social-media-brat, no comment”.
But, in a statement to The Terrier today, Ms Britnell said she was concerned, and that the survey mirrored issues raised by a number of people she had spoken to over recent months.
Ms Britnell said she will now meet with the Lyndoch board and CEO to ask what is being done. This is significant, because MPs don’t wade into troubled waters easily.
I can also confirm that the federal Member for Wannon, Dan Tehan, has asked the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to investigate concerns raised earlier by constituents.
This, as we know, comes on top of growing unease among staff at the Warrnambool Medical Clinic, who – I suspect – are starting to understand why two GPs quit last April when that clinic was sold to Lyndoch Living for a total of $1.6m.
The WMC Practice Manager has also resigned and leaves in two weeks. (“Ahoy me hearties, iceberg ahead!”)
While the Lyndoch Living board continues to move deck chairs, the developing crisis around staff morale and Lyndoch’s direction rolls on.
First, here is what Ms Britnell had to say in full:
“I received a copy of the report via email on Tuesday morning and had some concerns about its contents.
I am now seeking a meeting with the Chief Executive Officer of Lyndoch Living and Members of the Board to discuss these matters.
I also note I have been approached by several different people over the past few months who have shared with me concerns which relate to the matters contained in the report.
Lyndoch is a vital institution in our community and it’s really important it retains its long held reputation as a high quality home for the elderly and a great place to work.
That’s why it’s important concerns raised by staff or residents are appropriately addressed – that is information I will be seeking from the CEO and Board. “
One wonders how much longer the Lyndoch board can continue to deny the obvious, which leapt off the page in the leaked confidential staff survey.
Lyndoch received the survey results in January, they went to the board in February, but still it has done nothing to address the damning assessment of the CEO’s leadership that was contained within.
Here is a snippet which I believe people need to see in the public interest, not just the watered down version as reported in the Warrnambool Standard:
“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.”
Read that again. Up to 15 people is not a “small sample”. That is shocking, especially when you consider the Lyndoch corporate area has about 40 staff in total.
For even one person to claim to be enduring the “CEO’s culture of intimidation, manipulation and bullying” is one too many.
To have 10 to 15 warm-blooded, real people feeling that their “safety, health and well-being” is suffering, is disgraceful.
And what has been done in response?
More tea? There is a sense the tea party may be coming to a close at Lyndoch in light of a leaked staff survey.
Instead of leaping into action, Lyndoch hired a consultant – yes, another big fat fee on the public dime – to offer the board a counter assessment of the results:
“Look, over there! Over there! Nothing to see here!”
In LyndochLand™ , it’s the fault of the senior staff, the older staff, the kitchen staff, the person who takes out the bins on a Friday, the woman walking past the Lyndoch Milk Bar, the person who posted a nasty comment on Facebook, a pesky little journalist….anybody, anybody, but the person at the very top of the tree.
Is that a cover up, pure spin or clever public relations?
I don’t know, but what I do know is that the board – at the end of the day – will wear any consequences of not acting decisively.
The board are the people who are at risk of serious reputational damage. In light of these survey results, they can no longer say that they didn’t know.
And it is poor Lyndoch, owned and loved by the community for 60 years, that could face both reputational and significant financial damage.
The iconic WMC was sold to Lyndoch Living last April as part of a $2 million buy up by Lyndoch.
On top of that, consider this: if the iconic Warrnambool Medical Clinic was to fall apart because of similar issues filtering into its workplace, then there is no more “goodwill” and Lyndoch will have paid close to $2 million* for fresh air.
All this before even a sod is turned on the new $12 million medical centre to be built at Lyndoch to house the WMC and up to 20 GPs.
The pushback against those who dare to speak up and out is enormous – it’s all just a “social media” beat up – and meanwhile the HMAS Lyndoch lurches ever closer toward the iceberg.
At least now Ms Britnell and Mr Tehan are helping to lower the lifeboats.
There is a Lyndoch board meeting next Tuesday: we can only hope that the board leaps in and starts paddling.
*The $2 million includes $1.6m for the WMC and $300,000 for the Health Spot, plus purchase fees and charges.
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Lyndoch surveys staff, but the deeper questions remain
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.
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?
One of the questions on the confidential Survey Monkey survey issued to Lyndoch Living staff.
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 cover of the latest Lyndoch annual report, now called a Community Report, which contains little financial information.
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.
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