Staff shortages are affecting living conditions in community-based housing for people with disabilities. 

by Kristina Ioannou

The Victorian Government says it’s been working towards improving the living conditions of community-based housing for people with mental and physical disabilities. 

But care workers believe there’s a disturbing gap between those goals, and service practice, as more and more under-skilled casual staff are used because there aren’t enough permanent and qualified employees going around.

AUDIO

TRANSCRIPT            

KRISTINA IOANNOU: A recent state government funded survey conducted by National Disability Service VICTORIA, has highlighted an alarming number of casual workers are poorly trained and unqualified, when working in community housing for people with disabilities. The report cites a lack of training resources, an inability to retain permanent staff and scarce funding. And while the Department of Human Services says the government is doing all they can to solve the problem, community service workers, like CHRISTINE WESCOTT argue more needs to be done to improve current living conditions for residents.

CHRISTINE WESCOTT: I think if they had people with cert four it would be a much better quality of life for the clients because they would have people who are trained and know more about their actual disability, because some of the clients have multiple disabilities and quite complex problems.

KRISTINA IOANNOU: Policy Officer for NDS VICTORIA, JIEH-YUNG LO says better strategies like solving staffing gaps and strengthening qualifications are already being addressed more astutely, since the release of the Workforce Data Project study.,

JIEH-YUNG LO: So, what we are hoping for is to work with training providers, universities and the government as well, to ensure that staff who work in the disabilities services sector have specialist knowledge of contemporary disability policy and practice and the skills and education appropriate to the demands of being able to also move to a higher level.

KRISTINA IOANNOU: But Ms Wescott says the government needs to place more emphasis on attracting permanent staff members as the residents’ quality of life is fast deteriorating because of an influx of far too many casual workers.

CHRISTINE WESCOTT: I think some of the problems with staff are that there aren’t enough permanent staff and therefore they get a lot of casual people in who quite often don’t know the clients very well and they haven’t had an opportunity to build up a rapport with them. You’ll ask the staff questions and they’ll just say oh well, I don’t know, I’m casual.

KRISTINA IOANNOU: Communications officer for the Office of the Public Advocate, SALLY GIBSON says a lack of funding and dwindling tertiary courses could be influencing the lack of retention of staff in the sector.

SALLY GIBSON: There has been a consideration to cease a particular bachelor degree in disabilities studies at one of the tertiary institutions and we have put our voice forward for the retention of that course. Governments definitely are grappling with how to find the funds to provide higher levels of care.

KRISTINA IOANNOU: A potential solution to solve these staffing concerns may be to rebrand the industry entirely, according to Mr LO.

JIEH-YUNG LO: We need to promote the disability sector as a viable career option for these people. You know, we need to sort of change the branding to say the disability services industry offers great opportunities to build leadership, to understand social inclusion, to help make a difference in the community.

KRISTINA IOANNOU: The VICTORIAN government is reportedly bringing in new reforms next year that may mean it’s compulsory for staff members to have a certificate four. Ms Wescott says it needs to consider the rights of residents when developing these new policies.

CHRISTINE WESCOTT: You know, it’s just their right, to have the best staff available to look after them. A lot of them don’t have anyone else. A lot of them probably accept things that could be of a higher standard, but they just accept them because they think that’s there lot in life and that’s as good as it’s going to get when maybe it’s not good enough and it could be better.

KRISTINA IOANNOU: In the end, Mr Lo says it comes down to two main factors for both ends of the workforce spectrum: confidence and empowerment.

JIEH-YUNG LO: I think in terms of the case workers themselves, you know, they need to be confident in their own abilities and how do we get that confidence? And that confidence is the relevant training and the relevant qualifications. You know, we need to make sure that the case workers themselves are empowered because if they’re empowered they’re able to provide the relevant support and empowerment for the person with a disability.

Kristina Ioannou is a final year journalism student at RMIT