Staff at a Queensland nursing home left residents without showers and unfed because of time constraints, a confidential memo obtained by 7.30 reveals.

Nursing home staff told aged care inspectors who visited Pioneer Lodge in Bundaberg last December "that residents were sponged instead of being showered" and that staff gave up feeding difficult residents.

"There are three attempts made to feed the resident and if those three attempts fail the food is discarded and the resident is not fed," the memo, which was circulated to staff after the inspection, said.

Residents also told the aged care inspectors they were left on toilets for prolonged periods of time and not talked to by staff.

Further details included residents saying "the meals are tasteless and the quantity is insufficient — one resident reported that they received only three nuggets and five chips for their evening meal".

Facility failed 15 out of 44 standards

Loading...

The extraordinary detail about what went on inside Pioneer Lodge, owned by not-for-profit Blue Care, followed an unannounced visit by inspectors from the Aged Care Quality Agency (ACQA).

The home failed 15 of 44 aged care standards including basics such as providing enough food, fluids and personal care to residents.

The December 2017 internal memo to all staff at Pioneer Lodge and Gardens contained more detailed information about what happened during the audit, including:

One of the agency's inspectors "observed a resident who was calling out for help, with her head hanging over the side of the bed rail and the call bell on the floor. The assessor had to find someone to assist this resident who needed to go to the toilet"

One of the agency's inspectors "observed a resident who was calling out for help, with her head hanging over the side of the bed rail and the call bell on the floor. The assessor had to find someone to assist this resident who needed to go to the toilet" "Residents reported that they are being left on the toilet for prolonged periods of time"

"Residents reported that they are being left on the toilet for prolonged periods of time" Medications "had been left in residents' room without confirmation that the resident was self medicating"

Medications "had been left in residents' room without confirmation that the resident was self medicating" Residents said "the care staff do not know their care needs and are too busy to talk to them"

Residents said "the care staff do not know their care needs and are too busy to talk to them" "Significant feedback to the assessment team from both residents and staff, that there is inconsistency in staff, that there are not enough staff and that the staff are too busy"

The manager who wrote the memo said the "list raises some very serious issues that require our immediate attention" and that "it is critical that we pull together and work as a team to rectify the issues that have been identified".

A spokesman for Blue Care said management and staff were "working closely with external advisers to implement numerous improvements to systems, processes and practices at Pioneer".

The issue of understaffing was also emphasised in the ACQA's report which found Pioneer Lodge did not have enough "appropriately skilled and qualified staff" and that "clinical incidents are not consistently identified, monitored, reassessed or actioned in a timely manner".

Mandated staff-to-resident ratios needed: nurses

Former Pioneer Lodge nurse, Hazel Evans, says staff shortages are common everywhere. ( ABC News )

The details come on the heels of a campaign by the Australian Nurses and Midwifery Federation to have mandated minimum staff-to-resident ratios introduced as federal law.

As it stands, aged care facilities are required to prove they have "appropriate" staffing levels but there are no mandated numbers.

Blue Care declined to tell 7.30 what its staff-to-resident ratios are but said that there they are in line with industry standards.

In a statement, Blue Care said there remains "no substantive evidence that (staff-to-resident ratios) achieve better health outcomes for residents".

Hazel Evans, a registered nurse who has worked in aged care for 15 years and worked at Pioneer Lodge for five years, said understaffing occurred in all the aged care facilities she worked in.

"It doesn't matter whether it's private, not-for-profit or for-profit, it's all shortage of staff in every place," she told 7.30.

"It's the same thing through all the nursing homes and it's very frustrating to work in that environment, seeing these old people treated in that way."

Ms Evans said the food at Pioneer Lodge when she worked there five years ago was below standard.

"The food arrives in a plastic bag," she said.

"The meat was always tough. It is so revolting and it was termed pigs' spoil and that's what it looked like.

"It was disgusting."

'I continually told them to watch her, to be careful'

Joyce Davies died of septicaemia despite warnings to nursing home staff to be careful. ( Supplied: Janice Williams )

Janice Williams's mother Joyce Davies was a resident at Pioneer Lodge from 2016.

She died in February this year, less than two months after the adverse report from the regulators.

Janice Williams, believes 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, saying that the 87-year-old had multiple pre-existing conditions.

In a statement, Blue Care said it had apologised to residents' families for the failings identified by the regulator.

It said it was "working closely with external advisers to implement numerous improvements" to the issues identified and that the regulators had visited on March 27 "and provided very positive feedback on the improvements we have made".

Since 7.30's revelations, the Aged Care Minister has advised that Pioneer Lodge continues to be monitored by the Aged Care Quality Agency.

"I have asked the agency for a detailed report on the progress of these Bundaberg services," the Minister said.

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