Staff Hours Reduced At Coast Aged Care
Provider insists care won't suffer.
The operator of a Bateau Bay aged care facility has confirmed it’s cutting back shift hours for staff, but also insists this won’t lead to residents receiving a lower standard of care.
On Monday, Dobell MP Emma McBride claimed Southern Cross Case NSW/ACT was reducing the workloads of staff at its Reynolds Court facility by 793 hours.
Ms McBride said this was “the equivalent of 10 full-time jobs, and will affect cleaning, recreation and physiotherapy services”, blaming the cuts on the Federal Government not including any new funding for the Aged Care sector in May’s Budget.
In a statement today, Southern Cross confirmed it was reducing staff hours by this amount, though noted it was not only on the Central Coast that they were doing this.
"Today Federal Government funding makes up 75% of our residential care revenue", the statement reads.
"With the tightening of government spending on aged care, all operators are being called upon to balance budgets within the funds available.
“At the close of the last financial year, a number of our homes recorded an operational deficit – Bateau Bay was one of those.
“This outcome is consistent with the aged care industry performance across Australia… In many homes, our care ratios are currently much higher than industry benchmarks.”
“We can safely reassure residents, families and the community that we are still delivering more hours of care than the industry benchmark... we will not compromise on the quality of our service.”
The provider also said it is committed to keeping Reynolds Court open into the future, and the “difficult but necessary” adjustments to staff hours now would help in this regard.