While the media covers the horrendous world news of terrorist attacks and airport closures, it is easy to see that most people will not have noticed the further lowering of aged-care standards here at home.

Victorian Uniting Aged Care has just retrenched ten division one nurses from two of their aged care facilities – joining the ranks of the private-for-profit facilities that place cost-cutting and budgets over people and quality care. 

It seems that frail older people facing the end of life are not worth the trouble or expense of being cared for by properly trained staff. The Uniting Church should be deeply ashamed.

This comes at a time when a recent report conducted by Melbourne University researchers finds that 70 percent of aged-care workers surveyed were 'emotionally exhausted'. 

Well, that’s OK then – just give the hard-pressed, low-paid carers all the additional duties that used to be the responsibility of trained nurses - things like administering medications. That should help their emotional exhaustion!

Actually, you don’t need an academic researcher to tell you about the horrendous conditions in many of our nursing homes. Just talk to any staff member at your local aged-care facility or read the forum section on this web site.  Time after time we hear of nurses and carers unable to continue their work because of burn-out and poor working conditions.

It is time that the Minister for Ageing stopped listening to the whining of proprietors and their insistence on 'flexible staffing arrangements' and introduced mandatory minimum staff/resident ratios.

Until that happens best try to make some other arrangements for your frail old age. Otherwise you might find that you are the person who fell from your bed and lay for two days before a broken hip was discovered.