PHOENIX: Skilled nursing homes are facing a perfect storm of funding cuts, staff shortages and a lack of training that will lead to more cases of mistreatment and neglect, experts today warned.
A social work lecturer, who once worked undercover in a skilled nursing home for a research project, said: “There are massive issues with pay and retention of staff in the industry.”
“Pay is basically the minimum wage anywhere you work and there is often very little scope for promotion. There is no real incentive to attract people and keep them in the industry. Research also shows staffing levels drop almost immediately after skilled nursing homes are privatised – the ethic and core values are replaced by profit motives.”
He warned: “Neglect and abuse become embedded or entrenched in the working practices because there are so few staff that not every resident can, for instance, be showered every day or fed properly. It’s just impossible for the few staff who remain.”
“Until there’s a commitment to increase funding, reduce privatisation and improve pay, we will see these problems time and time again…”