The family of a woman who died just two months after her nursing home failed a government inspection, says cuts to qualified staff are putting elderly residents at risk.

In December last year, Pioneer Lodge in Bundaberg failed 15 of 44 aged care standards, including basics such as providing enough food, fluids and personal care to residents.

It was found to not have enough "appropriately skilled and qualified staff" and that "clinical incidents are not consistently identified, monitored, reassessed or actioned in a timely manner".

After the inspection, Blue Care, the company that runs the home, promised to correct the problems.

Less than two months later, in February, 87-year-old resident Joyce Davies died from septicaemia.

Her daughter, Janice Williams, said she believed staff did not promptly identify the infection which eventually killed her mother.

Ms Williams said she had previously complained to management that staff had not taken her concerns about clinical care seriously.

"I think part of my frustration is that I continually told them to watch her, to be careful," Ms Williams told 7.30.

"I thought, these people just aren't getting it."

The Blue Care home laid off a number of its enrolled nurses in August last year — four months before the unannounced inspection and six months before Mrs Davies' death.

Blue Care has rejected any assertion that any of its staff contributed to Mrs Davies' death.

'A premature death that did not need to happen'

Blue Care rejects the assertion that its staff at Pioneer Lodge contributed to Joyce Davies' death. ( ABC News )

When Mrs Davies went to Pioneer Lodge in 2016 she had a written care plan emphasising that she was at risk of infection leading to sepsis — a potentially fatal condition.

Ms Williams said staff seemed unaware of the risk despite repeated complaints, warnings and previous hospital admissions.

"I don't think they could put it all together, which really frustrated me because to me it was basic nursing knowledge," Ms Williams said.

In January Ms Williams said management told the family about Pioneer Lodge's adverse report by the Aged Care Quality Agency (ACQA).

She said she was assured that conditions would improve.

Less than three weeks later, Mrs Davies was rushed to hospital and died from septicaemia a few days later.

"It was just a premature death that did not need to happen yet," Ms Williams said.

"I'm so angry with them for what they've done or what they didn't do. She didn't need to die like that.

"If my mother was a child where would we be today with this?

"If they did it to her as a child or if she was an animal, you know we're not allowed to harm animals, we [would] end up in court real quick but it's OK to do it to elderly people and get away with it."

Blue Care, which is owned by the Uniting Church, has 47 nursing homes in Queensland and the Northern Territory.

It declined the ABC's request for an interview and said in a statement Mrs Davies had "multiple pre-existing medical conditions" and it "refutes any suggestion that the actions of Blue Care Pioneer staff contributed to [her] death".

It said ACQA had visited Pioneer Lodge on March 27 and was pleased with the progress of improvements to rectify the problems identified last year.

'This is happening around the country'

Sorry, this video has expired Bundaberg locals call for changes to aged care

Late last month, Bundaberg families, nurses and doctors held a meeting to discuss the staff shortages in some aged care facilities in the town.

Heather Mansell Brown, a local woman turned activist who organised the meeting, said the problems were not restricted to Pioneer Lodge and Blue Care.

"This is happening around the country," she said.

"The providers don't want more nursing staff because that means more salaries, less profit."

Ms Williams believes Pioneer Lodge's quality of care deteriorated when it removed some of its most experienced nurses last year.

"A couple of weeks after those enrolled nurses were sacked, most definitely did I notice things had changed," she said.

"Just even with my mother's case, she didn't look as groomed as normal and the personal care staff were really stressed, everyone looked stressed."

One of the nurses laid off was Margy Cooper. She worked at Pioneer Lodge for 16 years until last August.

"We were told that there was a restructure and that personal carers would be taking on responsibility for handing out medications and that we were no longer needed," Ms Cooper told 7.30.

"Now they've taken the bulk of the enrolled nurses off the floor it's a huge concern because you've got your care staff without that knowledge, so anything can be happening."

In its statement Blue Care denied it was replacing enrolled nurses with personal care workers.

It said it continually adjusted its staffing to match its changing occupancy levels.

The Queensland Nurses' Union said Blue Care had removed a number of enrolled nurses from seven of its facilities.

Do you know more? Please fill out the survey or email us at aged.care@abc.net.au.

Loading...