18th February 2021
Diane Greenway
My first impression of this facility was nothing short of impressive. It is, after all, relatively new and therefore modern. The inside looks the same - big, spacious, well appointed.
We were advised to look past those things and look at the personal side of things - the professionalism of staff, the interaction of staff with residents, the care we could see being provided.
Initially we, my sister and I, were very impressed with what we saw - and it is likely many other families would agree with us as there are many residents.
As time went on and Mum settled into her new residence it became apparent that all was not as good and glamorous as we were to initially led to believe.
My sister is able to visit Mum daily. Her daily visits enabled her to see the shortcomings of this facility. It soon became apparent also, that she was not the only one who was disgruntled by the services provided or lack of services.
Most residents pay for extra services - $41.75 per day - and this is just one part of a major issue with this facility. When we initially chose this place we were given a vague list of what 'extras' meant - it soon became obvious that they were definitely not being provided. Without going into major detail here - the residents paying this extra money were basically receiving the same care and experiences as those residents not paying the extra services fee - and even the basic care was lacking.
The administration staff has changed numerous times in the past year or so and people have been brought in from their head office in Sydney to try and sort out the issues - however as advocates for our loved ones - we have been given a lot of lip service and, although there has been some effort to rectify some of the situations, it has not been particularly successful or ongoing.
My sister has had numerous meetings - face to face, phone calls and video calls - to try and rectify these issues but none of these resulted in positive progress in resolving anything.
We, and other advocates of residents, have made complaints to the Aged Care Commission and their investigation is ongoing.
This facility is one of many in the Opal group of aged care facilities. It is definitely business first and care a seemingly lowly second.
The carers provide quite good care however I believe they are overworked and underpaid and there is often a language barrier between the elderly residents and carers - the ratio between carers and residents is definitely not enough.
When Mum moved into this facility we were asked what her needs were. Many of those have not been fulfilled and my sister has constantly had to engage with staff regarding those issues.
Overall, they do not provide the level of care anyone should expect in such a facility. They seem to forget who their clients are - suggesting recently that they are listening what residents want and that it is unfortunate if families do not agree...many residents are suffering from dementia and others - simply because of their age and because they are of the generation they are - need family members to advocate for them in all areas of their lives there.
They advertise and offer more than they provide.
You will notice that they offer to meet with those who have concerns...and they do, but nothing changes.
They wanted my sister to have a weekly meeting so she could tell them what they needed to fix!!
Very, very disappointed with this facility.