Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The crisis around Lyndoch Living continues to deepen.

The following is a statement from the former Chair of Plenty Valley Community Health, Marcia O’Neill, where the CEO of Lyndoch Living Doreen Power worked briefly before being employed by Lyndoch.

Ms O’Neill has called upon the Lyndoch board to resign, and for an administrator to be appointed urgently.

Ms O’Neill is an experienced director and board chair, and a Fellow Certified Practicing Accountant, (FCPA) which recognises global experts in the field of accounting and business. When people the calibre of Ms O’Neill say the Lyndoch board must go, it must go:

“I respect and thank Percy Eccles for his courage in speaking up and I certainly understand his fear from past experiences in dealing with Ms Power when I was Chair of Plenty Valley Community Health (PVCH).

I see history repeating at Lyndoch Living, it’s not the first time, however in this frightful case the damage has been prolonged and action by the Board seriously lacking.

Fortunately, there has been tenacious reporting – which was courageous in the face of threats of litigation – providing some transparency by a local journalist which has documented the issues, decline and terrible harm being perpetrated at Lyndoch Living.

This reporting incurred threats of litigation personally against The Terrier and it remains to be seen if this was financed by Lyndoch Living.

Further, I believe Percy Eccles’ comments about the Boards’ relationship with the CEO, the comments ring very true, and if so, there is a breach of Directors’ Duty. They should resign.

Ms Power’s time at PVCH was very short lived.

PVCH Board consisted of experienced professionals united by courage and integrity with a sound understanding of Directors’ Duties and Corporate Law, and expertise in Corporate Governance.

To my certain knowledge, the true events at PVCH were omitted from Ms Power’s application (to Lyndoch Living) and in the reference checks submitted by the recruitment agent. This too needs to be investigated.

The same search agent was involved when PVCH recruited Ms Power from Seymour.

This was before I became chair of the PVCH, but to my certain knowledge the true events of what happened at Seymour were also not presented to the selection panel.

Members hold board members accountable and Lyndoch’s exclusion of general members means there is no recourse or method of accountability unless the regulator steps in and appoints an administrator.

In this case, it’s urgent.

Companies Limited By Guarantee take millions in Federal and State funding and must be held to account.

Sadly, I understand from experience that there will likely be quite protracted and expensive proceedings ensuing, and my thoughts are with the present and past staff and the residents and families of Lyndoch Living and the people of Warrnambool.”

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.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

A short post tonight:

I recently learned that the $24 million medical clinic being built at Lyndoch Living did not go to tender.

I asked Lyndoch for comment on why it did not put the biggest project in its 69 year history out to tender so it could comfortably know it had received the best possible value for money.

There was no response from the Lyndoch chair.

There was no response from the Lyndoch media unit on behalf of the executive.

More than 1000 people are now asking questions about the purpose and financial viability of this medical clinic project, but no answers have been forthcoming.

You know, I used to fear that the Warrnambool community would lose control of Lyndoch, but it already has.

It lost control, without knowing it, almost three years ago to the day – 31 July 2018 – when the board and three other members of Lyndoch voted to tear up the old association rules that had been in place for decades, and become a company.

Lyndoch Living Inc became Lyndoch Living Limited.

It has not advertised publicly to fill a board vacancy since.

Under the new rules, it doesn’t have to. It could, but it chooses not to.

It has also not accepted a single membership application from the general public: even the current Mayor Vicki Jellie AM was rejected.

It has not publicly advertised its AGM since because under the new rules, it doesn’t have to. It could, but it chooses not to.

Snap, just like that, Warrnambool lost control of its aged care home and the right to have any meaningful input into its future.

The new constitution that governs Lyndoch Living Limited is being used to keep you quiet: we are the constrained without consent.

That’s all you need to know.

[I have turned comments off on this post, because Lyndoch Living is sending me lawyers’ letters; this time it’s not about my words, but yours. Lyndoch has access to ongoing and considerable funds to launch legal claims on behalf of individuals. I don’t. Given this, I am turning off all comments on Lyndoch pieces for the time being.]

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

The change in ownership for the Warrnambool Medical Clinic has seen a huge change in staff since it was sold for $1.3m to Lyndoch Living in 2019.

It’s a little over 12 months since the clinic lost its practice manager – its chief administrator – who resigned after a decade in the job.

I have since learned that around 20 more staff have left the practice since then, including two GPs who resigned in recent weeks.

Two other GPs, you may recall, resigned immediately after Lyndoch Living took control of the practice in April 2019.

According to my sources, there is now only one nurse at the practice who has been there longer than 12 months, and another eight have resigned.

At least six reception staff have also left.

Not all the positions have been replaced.

What has happened, though, is a mirror of what has happened at Lyndoch Living itself these past five years: a balloon in the number of people with special titles.

Where there was once a single practice manager, there is now:

a Project Director Integrated Primary Health;

a Project co-ordinator Primary Care;

an Operations Manager Primary Health Care and;

a Practice nurse Clinical Lead.

It’s worth remembering that Lyndoch Living paid $1.3 million in 2019 to buy the “goodwill” of Warrnambool Medical Clinic, which means GPs on contract, staff and patient lists.

It didn’t pay $1.3 million for the actual building on the corner of Liebig St and Raglan Parade.

Given the high turnover of staff since then, and anecdotal evidence of patients transferring elsewhere, I can only ponder how much of that $1.3 million worth of “goodwill” still remains intact.

As for the building itself, the Standard’s Jackson Graham is reporting today that it is up for sale at an expected price of $1.2m to $1.3m.

According to the report, Lyndoch Living has a lease on the building until June 2022.

That is a mere 12 months away.

This might explain why Lyndoch is barrelling ahead with plans to build its new $24 million, 3000 sq/m medical clinic on Hopkins Rd, despite concerns around the financial viability of the project.

As we know, the Lyndoch board is continuing to refuse to explain how the clinic will be funded, how many tenants are locked in, and – most importantly – how much money it will create for the care of elderly residents.

At a cost of around $24 m, this project is even bigger than the new Warrnambool library at $20m but, unlike that project, it doesn’t have one cent of government funding.

The strange thing is, for less than $3 million, Lyndoch could have bought the Warrnambool Medical Clinic building AND all of its goodwill and maybe spent another couple of million bucks refurbishing what is a prime piece of real estate.

A $5 million investment sounds a lot less risky than $24 million.

As it is, that prime piece of real estate is now up for grabs and Danny Harris, the selling agent, says – wait for it – it would make an ideal medical clinic.

Carol Altmann – The Terrier

Another member of the Lyndoch Living board has resigned – the second resignation from the board in two months.

Suzanne Coulson, a researcher and lecturer at Deakin University in the School of Nursing and Midwifery, joined the Lyndoch board in 2017.

I don’t know why Ms Coulson resigned, and I doubt she could speak to me anyway, as all board members are bound by a confidentiality agreement which was introduced after the departure of former CEO Rhys Boyle in 2015.

Ms Coulson’s resignation follows that of veteran board member Percy Eccles, who left in March after serving almost 10 years.

Ms Coulson was one of only two board members with medical qualifications. The other is fellow lecturer in the Deakin School of Nursing and Midwifery, Lorraine Mielnik.

The resignations of both Mr Eccles and Ms Coulson come as Lyndoch Living faces mounting pressure to explain a number of concerns around its plan to build a $24 million medical clinic on site, with fears the project could send Lyndoch broke.

Lyndoch’s former Acting Chief Financial Officer Allan Conway raised the red flag publicly when he said he did not support the clinic project in its current form.

Lyndoch recently appointed its third chief financial officer in five years, with the departures of David Knight and Katie Wright.

Other recent executive resignations include IT director Dr Ed Rhode and Director of People and Resilience Fiona Moore.

A community action group made up of Warrnambool residents concerned for the future of Lyndoch was launched last week – you can follow/like the “Keep Lyndoch living” group on Facebook here.