Since OneCare said they recognise there has been a staffing issue at Umina Park, they seem to have taken some measures to address the problem.

We met with Debbie Hutchinson from HR on Friday to continue discussions about addressing short staffing at Umina Park, which, as you know, we’ve raised with management for the umpteenth time.

We asked OneCare what they’re doing to address the constant short staffing and why they sent out so many memos about the amount of time it takes to answer call bells when staff are already under the pump. We also raised issues we received through OneCare’s feedback forms.

Here is a summary of what we know from the meeting:

• OneCare have been working on recruitment with their top priority being filling any permanent gaps in rosters. They are advertising heavily and will continue to do that until there are no more gaps, and they’ll keep recruiting for the casual pool.

• Debbie said there are some challenges in trying to gain more staff sooner. Those challenges include some applicants for the advertised job not being suitable candidates, new employees waiting on working with vulnerable people cards and new staff needing to have buddy shifts before operating on their own.

• Debbie promised that four new employees will be ready to start on 24 April, and an extra person is also to be put on for a few hours to assist with rostering

We’ll continue to make sure OneCare stand by their commitments. In the meantime, if you have any further concerns about short staffing or other work-related issues, please call HACSUassist on 1300 880 032 to chat with us.