The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has called for more nurses to be employed in aged care homes.  They say that this needs to be done to prevent dangerously sub-standard medical care from occurring.

Of course, many of us have known this for years. We have seen our family members sent back and forth in ambulances to emergency departments for minor complaints because there have been no trained health professionals on the premises.

We have sat with our mothers and fathers as they have waited for stressed and harried staff members to attend to them. We have seen the reliance of homes on agency staff who don’t know, or understand, our family member’s care needs and we have noted the increasing dependence on immigrant carers who are unable to communicate adequately with the residents in their care...

My latest example of the mess that aged care staffing is in is when a frail, diabetic patient I know was given pavlova for a dessert. Might as well have given her rat poison!

Fortunately a family member was present at the time and disaster was avoided. But it is sad when families can’t depend on reliable systems being in place to ensure compliance with dietary needs and preferences. Evidently, mistakes such as this are not uncommon at that particular facility. 

Having your father, mother or spouse in care is stressful enough without feeling that you have to be there every minute of the day to ensure safe and reliable care. 

Dr Peter Ford of the AMA says that having one registered nurse for 120 patients reduces standards of care. Sure does! And the worst of it is that such a system loses the best and most caring staff - those with professional pride and who value job satisfaction.

It is hard to understand why we have allowed aged-care providers, our politicians and aged-care bureaucrats to get way with this. None of us would like to find ourselves in such a place - dependent on others for our basic needs and with too few staff to provide adequate care.

Of course providers will always resist calls for mandated staffing levels. Staffing costs take up more than 75 percent of their budget. And more and more providers are in the business of aged care in order to make a buck.

But we should all demand better. The doctors know it is wrong and have spoken out. The nurses have been complaining for years. Those of us who have people we love in nursing homes find our hearts are breaking. Modern life is complex and, mostly, we can’t provide home care for our very frail loved ones. But do we deserve to have just one trained nurse to care for 120 dependent people. I think not!