CV and mad panic behaviour

[ElwoodBlues1]

I suspect it would be a bit like schools.
Good ones and bad ones.
And sadly sometimes you get what you can afford to pay.
My wife has also done some work in a couple of homes and has had some good experiences, but also mentioned a bit of a gap between the professionalism of some of the workers.

There seems to be a fair bit of scrutiny in terms of standards and accreditations but like other similar situations you can dress the place up for a couple of days if you know the 'inspector' is coming. If there are standards you don't meet there is usually a follow up where you get to correct it.

One of the big issues is availability of trained staff.
And that's not always because the big providers have their eye on the balance sheet.
It's not a go-to profession just at the moment especially in the wake of the pandemic.
It's something that needs to be addressed, especially in the area of registered nurses.
I think that's one of the priorities for Government that is being rectified.
But it's a case of people actually wanting to do the job.

It takes a special kind of person who gets career satisfacton out of feeding, washing and toileting old folks, especially those with dementia who are often resistant or physically aggressive.

Trouble is with a lot of these homes the money that gets spent is on the presentation, fancy foyers, lounges, prints on the wall but behind all that the care is woeful. You can be paying a lot of money but the care in many cases is still the same as the cheaper ones.
The care providers try and cheat as well with the nurses and wont employ agency RN's with higher gradings and try and cover with Div 2's that have the medication certification and then claim the agency providing the nurse didnt have an RN available.
Happens in the hospital system as well when specialist nurses cant be found and regular RNs are sent to specialist wards etc.
Then you have the other rort with how the placements are funded depending on the financial status of the resident...if they have their home they will have to cash that in to pay for their room/bed and any refund is limited if they pass away after 12 months so the family if they have one stand to lose a lot of money. The homes are also happy to push you out to rehab/palliative units in hospitals if you become a burden if you are ill and get the next sucker resident into take their money as well and continue the cycle.
Of course if private operator homes are closed down for poor care, abuse etc then the residents become a Government problem and thats why Governments wont go hard on dodgy operators unless its created an uproar in the community and making headlines.
As you say the Inspectors only see what the homes want them to see and the infamous " piss smell test" where you can smell a bad nursing home at the front door cant be used anymore as the homes make sure they are smelling like the Myer perfume dept on inspection and the wards look like a garden nursery.