In this guest post, Toby Hall shares his views on the role of aged care staff during the current pandemic, and the challenges being faced by frontline workers. St Vincent’s is one of the few organisations that runs both hospitals – public and private – and aged care in Australia.
We have spent the last six months acknowledging and celebrating the sacrifice and dedication of frontline healthcare workers in the face of the pandemic, and rightfully so.
But I will never understand how, despite showing exactly the same traits and often working under equally trying circumstances, we continue to largely overlook the contribution of the thousands of Australians who work in aged care.
Poorly paid, and with many needing upskilling, aged care workers have been operating under enormous pressure. And yet the broader community at best takes them for granted and at worst are openly hostile to their efforts.
I’m in the fairly unique position as the CEO of an organisation that runs both hospitals and aged care. I see, on a daily basis, how our society treats these groups of workers differently.
On the one hand, I see pop stars writing tribute songs for hospital workers; and everything from ready-made meals, luxury hotel rooms, and surgical scrubs being donated by generous businesses. These are wonderful gestures. Our health workers deserve it. They are the best of us.
But, almost on a daily basis, I receive reports of the most outrageous abuse being heaped on aged care workers just for doing their job: racist insults, threats of physical harm, refusal to follow COVID-safe procedures. It’s more than disappointing.
We all know how the pandemic has brought massive changes in aged care.
But while visits were correctly restricted by governments, the decision has caused enormous frustration among families and loved ones, which, in many cases, have then been taken out on staff.
Despite this, aged care workers continue to go above and beyond during this crisis.
The threat of the virus finding its way into an aged care facility hangs over everyone, across Australia, on a daily basis. Employees are constantly worried about unknowingly infecting those in their care. And just like healthcare professionals, aged care employees return to their families at the end of the day, worried if they’ll take the virus home with them.
As we watch Victoria’s coronavirus aged care disaster unfold, those concerns are legitimate and very real.
And yet, despite society’s general indifference, aged care workers continue to turn up to work each day, determined to do their best to keep our loved ones safe.
Recently the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety released a report on community attitudes to the aged care sector. The results, while unsurprising, were incredibly depressing.
Overall, the community’s perception of life in residential aged care is very bad.
But is it any wonder given the relentless stream of negativity around the sector over the last few years?
The Royal Commission has been essential. We all needed to be exposed to its brutal truths. Its findings will hopefully provide us with a platform to re-invent how we provide aged care in this country.
But one of its unintended side effects – certainly from the associated media coverage – has been the creation of an impression in the public’s mind that all aged care facilities are neglected places staffed by uncaring people.
It is deeply unfair and untrue.
Again, we all know how our sector’s workforce morale is through the floor.
According to United Voice, four-in-ten aged care workers plan to leave the sector within five years.
We similarly all have stories in our services of workers who are embarrassed to say what they do for a living or to be seen publicly in their uniform.
They’ve been stigmatised by the horrendous actions of a minority and are hurting.
We should be able to expose the failings of the sector while acknowledging that the majority who work in aged care are good people doing a very hard job. And we can’t hope to improve aged care without empowering and enabling frontline staff and by making a career in the sector significantly more attractive.
Providing aged care is hard any time, let alone during a pandemic.
Our society asks aged care workers to care for our loved ones because we can’t do it ourselves. And yet, when they step up, they become targets for pot shots and even vilification for their efforts.
It’s time to stop unnecessarily criticising aged care workers and start thanking them for what they do, especially during this crisis.
They should be held on a pedestal alongside our healthcare heroes.
Thanks Toby, very well written and exactly what needed to be said.
Thank you Toby, for your insightive and legitimate comments in this article, here here to our wonderful care and support staff.
I fully agree with all that you have written, well said it is about time that someone stood up for our wonderful staff who get very little recognition in return for their hard work and dedication.
I appreciate the empathy shown and agree it’s important to remind people that aged care workers are providing care that families or relatives cannot.
However, the employers could think more carefully about their duty of care to the very people who enable healthy profits to be returned to private aged care sector owners/shareholders.
Being involved in selecting professional, permanent staff instead of gig workers provided by agencies or labour-hire firms who share part of the healthy profits would be a start.
While some families will cherish the care their beloved relatives received, others remain bitter and guilt-ridden for allowing their loved ones to have ended their lives in such awful and degrading conditions.
Low salaries, reduced staff/resident ratios $6 per day food budget, lack of physical exercise, as well as minimum training for staff leaves the sector with a reputation that equals an unappealing prospect for us all as we age.
Do you want to be the life-stage that everyone dreads or fears?
As always, eloquently expressed by one of the most outstanding leaders in the aged care sector. It would be wonderful if the media stopped their ‘bashing’ of the aged care sector and did their bit to promote the qualities expressed in Toby’s letter to the broader community.
It’s not enough to he thanking them , they need to be adequately staffed for the work they provide to our loved ones. I see it first hand every day when l visit my husband .