Lyndoch Living says it plans to fix failings identified by the national aged care watchdog, without publicly detailing how.Carol Altmann – The Terrier
Lyndoch Living’s failure to care for the elderly and frail was kept under wraps for more than a year, during which things didn’t improve – but got worse.
That little bombshell was wrapped up in MP Dan Tehan’s media statement issued in response to The Terrier exclusive on Tuesday night.
Mr Tehan said the nation’s top aged care watchdog visited Lyndoch in response to a complaint way back in February LAST year.
As a result, the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission slapped Lyndoch with a non-compliance order for Personal and Clinical Care (aka, the very reason an aged care home exists).
Never fear, Lyndoch assured the commission at the time, they had a plan!
Fast forward 12 months to January 2021 and the commission re-visited Lyndoch to find the situation was not better, but far worse.
How is that allowed to happen?
As revealed exclusively here on Tuesday night, Lyndoch failed not one, but three out of four standards, including using chemical restraint without consent, and failing to appropriately monitor residents after serious falls.
And when it came to staffing, the commission could not have been more blunt: “(Lyndoch had) not ensured the delivery of safe care and services”.
If Lyndoch can’t get this right, what is it there for? To sponsor golf and horse racing?
Lyndoch’s three-year accreditation comes around again in August.
Lyndoch told the paper (it doesn’t respond to The Terrier) that it has an “action plan”, none of which has been detailed or publicly costed.
There is no mention of it on its website.
Once again, we are kept in the dark by a board and Lyndoch executive who are failing to deliver Lyndoch’s core business.
If The Terrier had not been tipped off about this latest report, nobody would know a thing about any of this.
“This” is the neglect that follows as a natural consequence of our nursing home not having enough staff, not having enough qualified staff, getting rid of experienced staff, and staff quitting because they are physically and emotionally exhausted.
At least 120 people have left Lyndoch in recent years, from very experienced and senior operators, down to those who only lasted a year or two.
These are the ever-growing band of alumni dismissed by Lyndoch as “disgruntled workers”, when in fact they are soldiers returned from the battlefield with warnings of what lies over the horizon.
“This” is a consequence of changing priorities where Lyndoch will overload itself with executives, but can’t fix the nurse call-bell system that is still unreliable.
“This” is a culture that will happily see Lyndoch go into massive debt for a new $24 million medical clinic based on an invisible business plan, rather than hiring more hands and hearts on the ground.
This is not the fault of the nursing and care staff: the moral collapse starts with the executive and board who set Lyndoch’s vision and priorities.
Don’t just take my word for it.
Take it from former Lyndoch Director of Nursing Penny Iddon who wrote this on the Terrier Facebook page after the breaking story:
“Poor standards of care are a direct result of poor and inadequate management oversight.
“The Board, the CEO and the senior nursing staff must take responsibility for this appalling result. The Board can no longer bury their heads in the sand and the CEO can’t keep passing the buck.
“After all, what the Auditors reported on regarding poor and outdated care practices has been allowed to continue under their watch which indicates a clear breakdown of systems, protocols and values.”
We have now seen in stark detail this week how Lyndoch is breaking down.
It has broken down in its duty of care.
And there are fears if the medical clinic goes ahead at the scale which is planned, it will break down financially.
How ironic, then, to see the Lyndoch CEO listed among the guest speakers jetting off to at an aged care forum next month in Sydney.
The topic?
Attracting and retaining new talent to revitalise your workforce.
Good work.
Well done Terrier for keeping us informed. Very sad to hear just how poorly Lyndoch is operating.
Its unbeliveable that Lyndoch can fail basic care standards on two visits approx a year apart and still there are no sanctions or permanent Government supervision onsite, and its even worse it has been covered up.
The whole system has failed the residents at Lyndoch and continues to fail them. (Edited)
The Warrnambool Community at last are getting facts on Lyndoch Living that have always been kept hidden- why did they not want the Community to know? Shame on CEO, Board Members and others!
Thank you to all floor staff who do the best they can caring for our elderly with limited staff!