A violent resident has nurses at the Lyndoch Living aged care centre threatening to strike indefinitely from next Thursday over safety fears.
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About 200 formal reports of violent and aggressive incidents are alleged to have been lodged about the woman, who is described as “physically imposing in stature” with a history of bad behaviour.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has called on Lyndoch management to work with the Department of Health immediately to find an appropriate specialist psychogeriatric facility for the resident, such as those available in Geelong.
State ANMF assistant secretary Paul Gilbert said members were dismayed at Lyndoch Living’s failure to address their safety concerns, which dated back to February.
“We are providing a window of opportunity for Lyndoch Living, the Premier and the Department of Health to step in and resolve this serious matter,” Mr Gilbert said.
“Lyndoch Living is failing in its duty of care to staff and is demonstrating that it does not have the capacity to care for such a resident with specialist care needs.
“We are understandably concerned for the welfare of the other residents should a cease work be necessary.”
He said the stop-work endorsed by a union meeting yesterday would involve about 70 people at Lyndoch.
Lyndoch Living chief executive Rhys Boyle said it had discussions with the Department of Human Services about a number of other accommodation options for the woman.
“We are working our way through those over the next week,” Mr Boyle said. “It’s been a protracted issue.
“When you have four to five stakeholders involved, it can be difficult to get everyone to find a way to move forward.
“However, we are very close to that now and I hope to have a resolution in the near future,” Mr Boyle said.
The ANMF said a recent Monash University survey showed nearly 70 per cent of ANMF (Victorian branch) members had experienced violence or aggression in the workplace in the past year, with a quarter reporting violence or aggression on a regular basis.
About half the respondents were employed in public hospitals, 12 per cent in private hospitals and 20 per cent in aged care facilities.
Patients and friends and relatives of patients were the source of nearly 80 per cent of the violence and aggression, the ANMF said.
