Southern Cross Care chief defends new care model

A controversial decision to move lifestyle and admin staff into carer roles has been defended by one of Australia's major aged care providers.

Southern Cross Care Tasmania announced in mid-November its plans to train lifestyle, kitchen and leisure staff to provide direct care to residents.

But the new model has been labelled 'diabolical' by the ANMF and is joining aged care workers on strike tomorrow to oppose the provider's reforms.

Southern Cross Care Tasmanian chief Robyn Boyd said the move was a direct response to the Royal Commission's recommendations.

"This is all about residents and their quality of life and care," Boyd told Aged Care Insite.

"Everyone is so heavily focused on staff and nurses.

"But what about the residents?"

Southern Cross Care's industrial overhaul came after three homes were issued notices for failing to comply with minimum aged care standards, including one in August 2022. 

The household model is expected to come into force over the coming months and will split up buildings into different communities with allocated carers.

Indirect staff will be trained to qualify for Certificate 3, after which they will provide personal care, cook meals and administer medication.

Boyd said the reforms would see that all of Tasmania's nine aged care homes meet the minimum compliance standards.

"We've responded and came up with a model we believe will provide our residents with better care, more stability and a better quality of life," Boyd said.

Yet, the new model has caused an uproar among workers, who will rally tomorrow to oppose the changes that might 'abolish specialist roles', including enrolled nurses.

The ANMF said the overhaul would push nurses out of aged care by altering their job positions.

"We're very concerned about how it will affect workload," ANMF Tasmania branch chief Emily Shepherd said.

"Providers certainly know the Royal Commission recommended more nurses in aged care, not less.

"Unless the government steps in, we fear there'll be even more sackings across the sector."

The ANMF has urged the government to set mandates around skill mix percentages or registered and enrolled nurse care minutes.

Health minister Mark Butler expressed his opposition to the move of Southern Cross Care 'proposing to terminate the employment of longstanding, experienced and dedicated nursing staff.'

"We strongly urge Southern Cross Care to reconsider its decision," Butler said.

Boyd said the board consulted with the Commonwealth before introducing the new care model.

They were advised that enrolled nurses would be included in the care minutes, meaning providers need to pay nurses as nurses but will receive funding solely for carers rates.

"Southern Cross Care did not make a policy to exclude enrolled nurses from the registered nurse minutes – that was the Commonwealth," she said.

"We understand not everyone will be happy with the changes.

"But we're not forcing anyone to make decisions they're not happy with."

Forty enrolled nurses will be offered voluntary redundancies or reemployment opportunities to, for example, their new Wellness program.

Aged Care Insite also spoke with Janine, an aged care worker who works for one of Victoria's major non-profit aged care providers.

Their home also adopted the household model a few years ago, after which residents gained weight and were significantly happier.

"In theory, the household model is wonderful," Janine said.

"But there's just not enough staff.

"We should also not be administering medication to residents."

Janine said they faced issues around the household model due to a lack of staff, unsafe medication administration, and an unbalanced skill ratio.

The provider initially changed the jobs of enrolled nurses to work as carers while receiving their original pay.

But then, they started to pay them at the same rate as carers and were offered redundancies.

Janine said they now have a handful of enrolled nurses who can only work in the traditional areas.

"Mistakes started to happen when enrolled nurses left, and laundry people hadn't done the core modules," she shared.

"We didn't have properly trained workers nor enough staff to begin with."

Aged care provider Catholic Health Australia has applauded Southern Cross Care's decision to come up with solutions to improve care despite the sector's financial hardship.

"It's unfair to single out one provider to send a signal to the broader sector when that one operator continues to invest in its services and deliver care," Catholic Health Australia chief Pat Garcia said.

"Letting enrolled nurses contribute to the 40 nurse care minutes will ease the burden on registered nurses and help providers find enough staff."

Since Southern Cross Care's announcement, Boyd has been meeting with its staff and residents to discuss the upcoming changes.

She said she'd received overall positive feedback from workers.

"We hope the household model will provide our residents with a better quality of life, more flexibility and stability and better decision-making about how they live their lives.

"Because first and foremost, we need to think about our residents."

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