Not only are they concerned that the lower staffing levels will mean that their loved ones will not receive the level of care they need, they are angered that the decision was made without their consultation.

Alan Graham, whose father is a resident of the St Lawrence facility, said he is concerned about the lack of transparency with families in the decision making process.

“The management are very quick to send out bills and notify us of price rises within the facility, but we had to find out about them cutting staff through the media,” Mr Graham said.

“They are telling us that the level of care will not change, but it only makes sense that if you have, say a 30% decrease in staff, you are also going to get a 30% drop in care.

“I also believe that there is no longer going to be a Registered Nurse on duty over the weekend, only on call.

“It is not good enough.”

Tania Thurlow is also concerned about the decisions being made to cut staff.

“My mum has complained time and again how slow the staff is to answer when she rings the buzzer,” Ms Thurlow said. 

“She understands that they are busy, but that is just going to get worse now there is going to be less staff on duty.”

“We were assured that the resident’s care was the most important thing in the facility when we put Mum in there, but how can we be confident that that is the case, when they can’t even be bothered to notify us of major changes that will affect our loved ones? I am disgusted,” Ms Thurlow said.

The Express contacted St Lawrence who forwarded our concerns onto executive management. We asked why the changes were necessary, why there was no consultation with family and how the level of care would change.

Southern Cross Care CEO Paul McMahon wanted to reassure families of residents that their care and well being was still the “number one priority”.

“And we will not compromise on the quality of our service,” Mr McMahon said.

He went on to say that the cut in hours stemmed from changes in federal government funding and it wasn’t only Harden’s Southern Cross Care staff experiencing a cut in their hours.

“Today federal government funding makes up 75 per cent of our residential aged care revenue,” Mr McMahon said.

“With the tightening of government spending on aged care, it is estimated that almost 50 per cent of aged care homes across Australia are operating at a loss and all operators are being called upon to balance budgets within the funds available,” 

“At the close of the financial year, a number of our homes recorded a substantial financial loss. St Lawrence was one of those. The reductions to staff hours has been across a number of our homes, not only in Harden.”

Mr McMahon said the changes would not affect the level of care for residents.

“We want to reassure residents, families and the community that with these roster changes in place we are still delivering more hours of care than the industry benchmark,” Mr McMahon said.

“As these changes will not affect the level of care, our initial response was to inform the employees impacted. We wished to respect their privacy by informing them of changes to the roster first. 

Mr McMahon said following the staff announcement, residents were informed and family members present and those who had visited. He said local management had been distributing letters to families about the changes.

“Our doors are always open to hear any concerns that residents, families or staff might have,” Mr McMahon said.

Mr Graham has called for transparency on all decisions made regarding the residents and staffing levels.

“I would like to know, that as management expect their staff to make sacrifices for the company, what sacrifices are they themselves making for the good of the residents and the company?”