Issue 167 19 June 2019
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Toxic working environment, mass resignations and multi bed closures at aged care facility
staff member from Casuarina Grove Aged Care Facility, Hamlyn Terrace, claims that the facility has become a “hidden hell hole” and believes that it is destined for closure, which could see some of the region’s highest care elderly displaced. According to the staffer, who did not wish to be named for fear of retribution, behind closed doors, Casuarina Grove was on a downward spiral, with secret bed closures, declining patient care standards and warring staff. Casuarina Grove is the largest of the Specialist Supported Living (SSL) facilities operated by Family and Community Services (FACS) NSW. According to FACS, the 100 bed purpose built facility was opened in 2011 and specialises in providing 24-hour support for people with an intellectual disability and complex ageing related needs, and was the first of its kind to be built in NSW. The staffer said concerns first emerged when management closed 20 beds abruptly and with little explanation. The staffer said the
beds, which are located in Units 5 and 6, had been shut for at least six months, and as a result, new resident admissions had also effectively been capped. “We were told the Units had been closed for renovations but they’re not even 10 years old and neither myself or any staff member that I’ve spoken to about it has seen any activity in those Units since they were closed,” the staffer said. They said Casuarina Grove was currently operating in a state of limbo and that unbeknownst to the general public, the facility
All is not what it seems at Casuarina Grove had been on the market The staffer said many for sale since 2017, a staff members faced daily claim they believe elicits bullying and intimidation further questions over the at the hands of an “inner bed closures. circle” of staff members “It (being for sale) just in these Units. proves the renovation “A hierarchy has formed excuse was bogus. amongst the Registered “The closure was Nurses, Assistants in implemented to help Nursing and the Unit streamline a handover if Manager and staff on the place ever sells,” the the outer, or who speak up about issues, face staffer said. According to the staffer, character assassination the current state of and routine bullying,” the affairs has led to several staffer said. They said that despite disputes between staff and management which staff members bringing concerns to has allowed a “culture of their fear and intimidation” to management, the covert be entrenched in certain nature of the issue Units at Casuarina Grove. allowed it to fester and has resulted in several
resignations. “The issue here is that they protect each other and substantiate each other’s claims about false incidents with other staff members. “This makes it extremely difficult to actually make a complaint about their behaviour and conduct stick,” the staffer said. According to the staffer, the issue has gotten so bad that this inner circle is now directly compromising the safety of residents, staff and the wider Hamlyn Terrace, Warnervale and Wadalba communities. The staffer alleges that
a member of the inner circle, who is an Assistant in Nursing (AIN), has been showing up to work intoxicated and that management have been going to great lengths to excuse her behaviour. “This AIN drives to Casuarina Grove, completely and utterly drunk and arrives incapable of doing anything. “She has shown a reckless abandon for her own life and the lives of others and amazingly, to the best of my knowledge, she has faced no disciplinary action for her conduct,” the staffer said. “What’s more is that management have been aware of this behaviour, as multiple staff members have put in complaints, but have done nothing about it. “I know of multiple occasions where this AIN arrived drunk and was allowed to sleep it off or the Unit Manager arranged a taxi to take her home. “I’ve even been told that other staff members have been directed to drive this AIN back to her home in Wadalba. “How has this been allowed to go on?” the staffer said.
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