A former aged care worker has blown the whistle on what she says are appalling conditions and practices that permeate the industry including harassment and abuse. Adelaide women and experienced aged care worker Eleanor Morgan, 36, spoke to 9 News about why she quit the aged care sector after continued harassment and complaints about conditions went unheard. Miss Morgan is an active and outspoken member of a national aged care reform group and is campaigning for change. Her list of gripes with the industry include a shortage of professional carers while also being significantly underpaid for the work they are expected to put in. ‘If you’ve got 30 people and you’re spread out over a large section, you can’t watch everybody at once and you’ve got people who are high needs, they need to be monitored constantly,’ she said. Unpaid overtime was another issue Ms Morgan said should be addressed as she was required to be at work up to an hour after her knock off time to make sure she completed the required paperwork before calling it a day. The straw that broke the camel’s back and finally lead Ms Morgan to call it quits in the aged care sector was her support of a complaint leading to her being harassed in the work place. ‘I saw my friend bullied out of her job for speaking up. We were chased down the hall by a manager screaming accusations at us,’ she said. Ms Morgan claims she was then the target of intimidation and harassment for her support of a co-worker and friend, going so far as being ‘screamed at’ and ‘physically intimidated’. She believes a fundamental lack of federal funding is having a detrimental and long term impact on the aged care sector, combined with the perceived ‘greed’ of the retirement home operators.
April 23, 2018
Former Australian Medical Association president Keith Woollard has been hauled before the State Administrative Tribunal again, this time facing professional misconduct charges over botched angioplasty surgery that resulted in the death of journalist John Brown in 2005. Counsel representing the Medical Board of Australia on Friday, Fiona Stanton, painted a picture of a man motivated by financial self-interest to perform as many angioplasty procedures as possible in the shortest possible time. The Medical Board of Australia alleges Dr Woollard carried out the procedure unsupervised at the Mount Hospital on December 15, 2005, when he had not yet met accreditation requirements recommended by the Cardiac Society of Australia. The State Coroner ruled Mr Brown died as a result of a coronary artery tear, caused by a wire used by Dr Woollard during the operation. Ms Stanton said Dr Woollard was a shareholder in a company that received fees and incentives from stent manufacturers for every stent used at the catheterisation lab at Mount Hospital — a claim not refuted by the defence. Dr Woollard’s defence lawyer Peter Morris SC conceded his client should not have attempted the complex surgery alone, but argued the mistake represented hubris, not greed. Dr Woollard continued to perform angioplasty at Mount Hospital after Mr Brown’s death and received full accreditation in mid-2006. He is still a practising cardiologist.
April 23, 2018
Murray Hamilton, 59, has gone missing from the South Canterbury District Health Board’s Talbot Park residence in Timaru.
April 23, 2018
A student nurse was allegedly attacked after she left work at Christchurch Hospital. One has told of carrying scissors in her pocket for security while walking to her car after a late shift. The nurses union has lamented the lack of security near the hospital and a Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) member has described the ongoing lack of parking as “embarrassing”.
April 23, 2018
A former disability services worker has been jailed for seven years for a string of armed robberies. Kepa Kemp who began abusing alcohol, cannabis and ice after failing to manage the stress of working and fatherhood, carried out five armed robberies in Melbourne’s west over 18 days in December 2016. The County Court heard this week that during the third robbery, on Christmas Eve, Kemp took a drink bottle full of petrol and splashed fuel over a 29-year-old pharmacist in Hoppers Crossing, held up a cigarette lighter and said: “Give [me] the money or I’ll put fire on you.”
April 23, 2018
Integratedliving Australia Limited will face a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) today before Deputy President Barclay in the Workers Compensation & Rehabilitation Tribunal, Level 2, 111-113 St John’s St, Launceston at 10am (Lowery).
April 23, 2018
The Islamic Society of Victoria is still struggling to put to bed a s.394 (Application for unfair dismissal remedy) which is in its third day before Fair Work Commissioner Bissett in Court 9 – Level 5 in Melbourne (Abou-Eid).
April 23, 2018
Peninsula Health and Health Services Union will contest a s.739 (Application to deal with a dispute) before Fair Work Commissioner Cribb in Conference Room E & F – Level 6 in Melbourne at 10.30am
