This is not the first time we raised short staffing with your Facility Manager, but once again we wrote to Jan on 17 March to express workers’ concerns about understaffing on all wings at Umina Park.

We told Jan that while workers are sympathetic to staff members who are doing rostering or having to call in staff when a shift is short, that sympathy is wearing off as workload increases due to short staffing, which in turn is having a knock-on effect on those coming to work. When workers on the floor can’t cope and call in sick, the cycle begins again.

We know that in addition to having to work short-staffed continually, you are also receiving regular communication from management about not answering call bells fast enough. We told management that this is frustrating workers more. Instead of blaming workers, they should be aware that bells are taking longer to get to because you are short-staffed, and some residents require more than one staff member to care for – that means you cannot just drop what you are doing and run to the next call bell.

After several emails back and forth, management acknowledged the issue and said they’d “take these concerns very seriously”.

We’ll meet with management soon to discuss these matters further and hopefully come up with a plan to address the staffing shortfall moving forward.

Keep an eye out for our next update. If you have any questions, you can call HACSUassist on 1300 880 032.