AGED care provider Boandik has stood by its proposal to cut staffing hours at its St Mary’s site in Mount Gambier to ensure the site remains financially viable.
This comes as the facility remains on a financial knife-edge after posting losses over the past three financial years.
But the proposal to trim hours of frontline care workers has angered employees, who have called in unions over the past week.
It is understood around 20 employees attended an emergency meeting with the union last week after learning their hours may be slashed by up to 15 hours per fortnight.
Affected employees have now been asked to provide feedback on the proposal and alternative cost saving measures before Monday’s deadline.
Boandik has already received 10 submissions from employees offering suggestions for potential savings at the facility that houses 68 residents.
Affected aged care workers have contacted The Border Watch over their hours being cut and fears care to residents may be “jeopardised”.
Boandik chief executive officer Gillian McGinty yesterday said the organisation appreciated its workforce, but savings must be identified and implemented.
“Boandik is a not-for-profit organisation, but we cannot be for loss – our operating deficit is $190,000,” Ms McGinty said.
“We are in the process of consulting with staff and requesting their input into the best way to achieve the required reduction in wage costs with minimal impact on staff and residents.”
She said 14 staff would be “directly” impacted, but the changes would have an indirect impact on other staff.
“But care to residents will not be compromised,” said Ms McGinty, who added some carers had been offered the opportunity to take up additional shifts at the site.
The aged care chief also moved to allay fears raised by workers the proposed wellbeing centre for the Lake Terrace site was a factor.
She said the money used for the wellbeing centre would come out of “capital reserves”, not the operational funding pool.
“The financial viability of Boandik relies on each area of operation contributing to the cash flow so that we can continue to provide quality services to our clients now and in the future,” Ms McGinty said.
She said many aged care facilities across Australia were grappling with similar financial issues.
“The impact of regulatory changes and cost pressures, particularly staffing costs, has resulted in the alarming statistic that 41.3pc of residential facilities reported an operating loss for the six months to December 2017,” Ms McGinty said.
“St Mary’s has historically operated in deficit despite various initiatives implemented by management and staff to move to a surplus operation.”
Ms McGinty said the facility was again on track to record a deficit in 2018/19.
“The board and management made the difficult decision to review staffing levels to bring the home back to a break-even result,” she said.
The organisation has already made savings in wage costs for maintenance, management and housekeeping.
Ms McGinty said one factor that must be reviewed was the Federal Government’s income for aged care homes being frozen in 2017 and the low indexation rate of 1.4pc in 2018.
“This does not even equate to CPI increases,” she said.
A Boandik aged care worker – who requested anonymity – said carers were stunned by Boandik’s plans to slash hours.
She warned these cuts could “jeopardise” the quality of life and care of residents, many of whom were paying hundreds of dollars a week.
“Management has spent money on a new kitchen and is now wanting to build a hydrotherapy pool and wellbeing centre, but are wanting to reduce hours and care,” the worker said.
“They are looking to cut our hours per fortnight, but we are expected to continue to give proper care.”
The worker described their workload as already significant and warned there would be less one-on-one care time with residents.
“Some residents are incapacitated, which means management expects us to clean, shower residents and service meals.”
Claiming workers were furious over the cuts, the worker said their income “was on the line”.
“We had a meeting last Wednesday where the union said they can’t do this without consultation,” the worker said.
She said care workers had signed contracts for specific hours.
