Credit:Illustration: Matt Golding
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CARE FOR THE VULNERABLE
Privatised services are failing us everywhere
I work at a community service in Gippsland, and twice in the past three weeks have come across people discharged from hospital without sub-acute, post-discharge home care. Both were discharged to relative homelessness. (A 77-year-old woman with multiple illnesses, sleeping in her car, and a young gentleman with a broken leg living in a boarding house.)
I was advised by the hospital that it had four providers in this kind of short-term home care, all of which are currently not taking any referrals. Even if the gent in the boarding house had received a referral, his accommodation would almost definitely have resulted in a failed risk assessment, and denial of service, by the provider.
What on earth are we doing? Privatised services are failing us everywhere, and I feel shame at what our health system has become.
Roisin Ruddy, Yallourn North
Elderly paying price for the push to save money
How has the breakdown of home care provided to elderly and sometimes infirm residents been allowed to occur? Why does such disastrous treatment of the elderly (nursing homes) continue?
And what happens to all those wonderful local workers, the salt of the earth in their communities, who did the work and are now unemployed? Surely it cannot be that neoliberal policy and its pot-of-gold incentives are the only thing that turns local councils against their elderly residents.
John Harris, Williamstown
Residents left alone in rural Victoria
I have read recent letters referring to the non-existent care by organisations that have taken over services provided by local councils. My mother is in the Latrobe Valley and has not had support since the handover to the new provider, Benetas (about four weeks ago).
Pamalee Matthews, Traralgon
Seeking assistance, but no call from new provider
I have been receiving help from Mornington Shire with cleaning for the past 6 years. I am a stroke victim and have very poor balance so cannot manage certain things like making the bed, vacuuming and cleaning the toilet. I have not heard from the new service, Mecwacare, so do not know what is happening.
My daughter is helping but lives 90 minutes away, so I may have to shop around for alternate care. It is poor that I have not received even a phone call from Mecwacare.
Michael Chalinor, Somerville
A shocking situation, but why are we surprised?
How unrealistic is it to expect 23 local authorities to outsource their home care at the end of the financial year and not encounter such a debacle? Many carers, who had established, long-term relationships with their clients, have been summarily dismissed or made redundant before their replacements could be recruited and trained, let alone become familiar with their clients’ particular needs.
Irrespective of the merits or otherwise of privatisation, there is something seriously wrong with a system that produces such outcomes. Our oldest and our frailest deserve better.
Mike Sanderson, Drouin
A futile hope that extra funds would go to wages
It is imperative that aged care workers receive a significant pay rise. However, many providers are private businesses and multinational corporations. Do these large businesses expect a pay rise for their staff to be funded by the government?
As the aged care royal commission final report noted: successive governments have made several failed attempts to improve staff wages “by providing additional funds to providers in the hope that they would be passed on to aged care workers by way of increased wages. They were not.“
Sarah Russell, director, Aged Care Matters
THE FORUM
End the politicisation
“Anti-corruption chief calls for independent funding” (The Age, 6/8) was music to my tired, old ears. I am a retired Commonwealth and Victorian public sector employee with over 40 years of experience.
Robert Redlich QC’s call is a necessary first step. And it should be extended to all anti-corruption bodies, including the Victorian Inspectorate and Victorian Ombudsman. Furthermore, IBAC’s powers should be expanded. If and when we get a federal ICAC, it should have the same funding and powers.
These are crucial first steps to ending the politicisation of the public sector and a return of the proper boundaries between public servants and ministerial staff.
Others include a reimagining of the way departmental secretaries are hired and fired, and a reframing of the words “frank and fearless advice” in the Australian and the Victorian public services’ codes of conduct.
This has been arguably the worst, and certainly the most insidious, form of corruption facing not just Australians, but Western democracies.
James Tucker, Greensborough
The delightful Olivia …
In the late 70s I had a good friend who worked as a waiter at the famous Melbourne eatery, Maxim’s. He could not wait to tell me that he had served Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta, who were in Australia promoting their film, Grease, while they dined in a private area. My friend described Newton-John as being even more beautiful and delightful in real life. He was particularly excited to inform me that he had finished off her half-eaten salad.
Peter Jurkovsky, Heidelberg
… was so down to earth
I had the pleasure of meeting Olivia Newton-John at a shopping mall in Los Angeles where she had a shop, Koala Blue. We chatted a while, then I asked for a photo with her. She declined, saying she looked “ratty”. She wasn’t being difficult, she just did not think she looked good enough. Only an Aussie superstar would describe herself as “ratty”. A sad loss of a wonderful lady.
Geoff Lipton, Caulfield
The bragging Aussies
I do not know why people are getting super excited about Australia topping the gold medal tally, with 67, at the Commonwealth Games. Per capita, New Zealand absolutely smashed us with 20 gold medals from a population of little over 5million people. Aussie, Aussie, Aussie. No, No, No.
Ed Veber, Malvern East
Where money should go
The success of our heavily government-funded Commonwealth Games team illustrates the benefits of government expenditure. If only the government would spend up big on Australia’s impoverished and problematic health system. Time for change, please, Anthony Albanese.
Jennifer Grimwade, Richmond
Sadly, AFL hasn’t changed
Nick Edwards writes about the “horrendous language and verbal aggression” at last Friday’s Collingwood-Melbourne match (Letters, 9/8). Many years ago I took my young son to an AFL match. I was horrified at the abuse screamed at the players and the umpires. No sportsmanship at all. We never went back.
Anna Davey, Ringwood
End the booze culture
Unfortunately, drunken boorish behaviour in the MCC members reserve is increasingly becoming commonplace. It is beyond time that the MCC committee took its “responsible serving of alcohol” commitments seriously and put standards above dollars.
Ian Maddison, Parkdale
Toxic masculinity
One of the more disturbing aspects of the Adelaide Crows’ 2018 pre-season camp was that to be a man, one must be able to give and take verbal and physical abuse. And we wonder why male aggression is a problem in our society.
Gillian Humphries, Eltham
Public, the safer option
My heart goes out to Annie Moylan’s family (The Age, 8/8). The horror story of her last hours enforced my belief in Melbourne’s public hospitals. If you need a non-life-threatening procedure and enjoy a bit of luxury, this new wave of private hospitals may be for you. If you are really ill, head for one of our public hospitals where they have specialists, pathology on site or on call 24 hours a day.
Brendan Mitchell, Highett
A chain of mistakes
I disagree that the first mistake in the sequence of errors befalling Annie Moylan was the choice of the hospital, Holmesglen Private, she went to (Letters, 9/8). If a medical facility has an emergency department that cannot deal with serious illnesses, then it should not be accredited to run such a service.
The hospital needs to have a clear strategy to deal with illnesses that are beyond its scope of practice. Also, doctors working there have to know which patients can be safely managed and which need to be transferred.
Giving a patient a label (gastroenteritis), prior to working out how sick they are, always ends badly. Transferring a dangerously ill patient to other than a tertiary-level emergency department was the final straw.
The fundamental problem was allowing a system that masquerades as a serious medical facility to exist. This is a function of government for the safety of its citizens.
Geoff Sheahan, Wantirna South
The hard path to success
Your correspondent asks “Where are the teals” for the Victorian election (Letters, 8/8). If she wants a community-derived, independent candidate, she needs to start, or join, a “Voices of …” movement in her electorate.
Then she can help to find what the community wants and help select a candidate that will represent those views. A lot of hard work by local communities went into the success of the independents at the federal election. It was not chance, luck or providence.
Simon Cameron, Hexham
The worst of two evils
The only reason the ALP will win the state election is that the opposition is a rudderless rabble and utterly unelectable. Dan Andrews should not kid himself, in any way, that a win will be an endorsement of his government. Given any sort of reasonable alternative he and his government would be run out of town on a rail – assuming it ever gets built.
Mark Morrison, Kew
In a class of her own
In Sarah Ferguson, the ABC has found today’s “perfumed steamroller” (the nickname given to Jana Wendt) for her interviewing style on 7.30. If interviews were an Olympic sport, Sarah would definitely win gold. “Forgive me for interrupting” – magnificent.
Wendy Daniels, Hawthorn
Homes for the future
I could not agree more with “Future-proof your home and increase its value” (The Age, 8/8). This upfront, extra spending on eco-friendly features could be encouraged by banks – eg, if you have a seven star environmental rating, then banks must offer lower rates as there is a lower risk from the increase in cost of living pressures (eg gas and electricity).
If you have intergenerational living features, then options should kick in for a long-loan term. Valuers also need to put a higher premium on these features, recognising their long-term value.
Governments can help by requiring star ratings for all existing homes, including rentals, so they can be priced correctly. Otherwise we will have a legacy of houses which are not fit for purpose.
Kelly Reed, Kew
High cost of opting out
We recently disconnected from the gas supply, now we have received a bill for just short of $1000 for disconnection and removal of the meter. This is over the top and not a great incentive to opt out of gas, in addition to the cost of replacing appliances.
Cynthia O’Keefe, Highton
Such a shameful record
Oh China, China, China. You have stolen most of the South China Sea, all of Hong Kong and now you want Taiwan. With your poor political record, how dare you tell Australia how to behave.
Kay Gibson, Watsonia North
Militarily neutral Taiwan
Your correspondent (Letters, 8/8) asks why Taiwan is so important to China. China’s concerns over Taiwan are quite easy to understand. It needs to know this strategically located island will remain, at the very least, militarily neutral in a crisis. The US has acted constantly in Taiwan to prevent that certainty – the niceties of committing to the agreed one-China policy aside.
Were Taiwan to become a fully independent nation, there is no doubt the US and probably other nations would work ceaselessly to sell more arms and create more political tensions.
Mark Freeman, Macleod
Listen to the people
Suzette Miller (Letters, 9/8), you are not alone in your search for “open, green space”. Hundreds of homes nearby are displaying placards objecting to government theft of their school’s green open space for netball stadiums and car parking. Residents of Parkdale display their objections to the vast concrete expanses of SkyRail, destroying their environment.
Across Hampton we see “save our suburbs” signs but councils and our Labor government have just one imperative – a high-density dystopia.
Goldstein supposedly “found its voice” in independent Zoe Daniel, but what irony: we need an extra layer of representation across all layers of government, a voice, to beg those we have elected to actually serve our best interests or represent us.
Ronald Elliott, Sandringham
No fun and games, sadly
When the FBI raided Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, it gave the former president advance notice so (sadly) there was no need to “bust down any doors”.
John Hughes, Mentone
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit:Illustration: Matt Golding
People
I can’t imagine Alan Joyce ditching the designer suit for the yellow vest of a baggage handler. I’d like to see that.
Margaret Sullivan, Caulfield North
Archie. Judith. Olivia. Three wonderful music artists, three magnificent human beings.
David Johnston, Healesville
I wonder if your correspondent, who suggests we “persevere” with reading a book, has read Ulysses.
Louise Burton, Tullamarine
Politics
To wear a tie or not wear a tie. If that is the question, there is something wrong in the state of Denmark, oops, Australia.
Luise Mock, Tawonga South
Better to have a democratic China than a communist Taiwan.
James Curtis, Chelsea
Great article, Sean Kelly (8/8). A call to focus on meaningful government policy, not petty “gotchas” from us all.
Don Stewart, Port Fairy
The referendum should take in three issues: the Voice, the republic and four-year federal parliamentary terms.
Howard Brownscombe, Brighton
May I suggest ″a spurn of former PMs″.
Barry Davies, Eltham
Furthermore
The only winners in privatised home care are the businesses and executives. Just watch those profits and incomes soar.
David Eames-Mayer, Balwyn
Re Four Corners (8/8). Perhaps the UN needs an IBAC.
Meg Mcpherson, Brighton
Shameful: The theft of doctors from third world countries by wealthy countries to avoid the expense of training their own.
Bill Murphy, Highett
Must I watch another generation of St Kilda players grow old and underachieve?
Damian Fuller, Lindisfarne, Tas
“The Block hammers rivals in reality TV battle” (9/8) is not news. The Age is owned by Nine.
David Cayzer, Clifton Hill
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