When Tracey Mitchell found out her mother Margaret had dementia in her 60s, she hoped putting her in an aged care home with a specialised dementia unit would give her a sense of security and peace.

Key points: Tracey Mitchell says the nursing home where her mother fell does not have enough staff

Tracey Mitchell says the nursing home where her mother fell does not have enough staff Workers have told the ABC poor staffing is compromising care for elderly residents

Workers have told the ABC poor staffing is compromising care for elderly residents Senator Jacqui Lambie wants to see aged care staff ratios brought in across Australia

But now every time the phone rings Mrs Mitchell is overcome with a sense of dread.

"It's horrendous," she said. "It keeps me up at night."

Warning: contains graphic images of an injured eye and stitches.

The Launceston woman said her mother had a fall and suffered serious facial injuries after being left unsupervised.

She has blamed staff shortages.

"The staff do the best they can but every time you go there, there might be just one or two staff for 20 or more residents. They simply don't have enough people to keep an eye on dementia residents," she said.

Margaret entered a nursing home after developing dementia in her 60s. ( Supplied: Tracey Mitchell )

"Mum ended up with a fractured eye socket, a fractured cheekbone and dozens of stitches. There was just one staff member there and the poor worker on the day was expected to look after all of the residents."

Staff from the not-for-profit aged care home, which can't be named for legal reasons, told the ABC they regularly had to care for up to 20 residents per worker.

They are claims backed up by other workers on the ground, not only at the Launceston aged care facility, but also across Tasmania.

The facility where Margaret lives was contacted as part of this story but did not respond.

Workers also told the ABC that poor staffing ratios were compromising the care for elderly residents.

In some examples, they said it was common to find residents who had been left in their own urine and faeces for up to eight hours at a time, and for resident escapes to go unreported.

One worker said faeces had not been appropriately cleaned from one facility in Hobart's northern suburbs for 11 weeks because of staffing shortages.

Mary, whose identity has been withheld over fears she could lose her job, said as recently as the first weekend of September she was forced to leave residents "in a bad state" because of staffing shortages at her north-west workplace.

"Sometimes you might see somebody that's not real well, laying in that bed incontinent of urine or anything they might be there until 11am, that's four hours," she said.

"It's just because we can't get to them sooner. You feel terrible when that happens, and it happens a lot."

Mrs Mitchell said she regularly found her mother in her own urine.

"The staff will say I'm sorry it's because we haven't gotten around to your mum yet and she's lying in bed in her own urine. It's a terrible way to live."

Margaret's family says she was injured trying to escape from her aged care home. ( Supplied )

Watchdog's complaints process 'flawed'

Ian Yates, President of Australia's Council on the Ageing, said the reports were a clear breach of industry regulations and called on people to make complaints to the federal watchdog.

"It concerns me deeply. I would encourage anyone who has first hand knowledge of these incidents to file a complaint to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission [ACQSC]," he said.

But Australians have described the complaints process with the ACQSC as "heart wrenching" and "flawed" and slow.

Last week, at a different aged care provider, it was revealed one woman's elderly mother died before her complaints of abuse and wrongful medication administration was resolved by ACQSC.

Meanwhile, Mrs Mitchell said she was considering "all options" for her mother.

"But you feel trapped, you hear bad stories coming out from other providers too and feel like there is nowhere to turn," she said.

More than 130 submissions from Tasmania have been made to the Aged Care Royal Commission.

The commission will visit Launceston in October and Hobart in November.

Calls for staff ratios

Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie wants aged care staff ratios across Australia.

"These horror stories tell me that these places don't have enough staff on the ground for God's sakes," she said.

"The ratios concern me terrible, we have ratios for our children and even at hospitals but we don't have them for our elderly in aged care. That blows me away," Senator Lambie said.

"I find those stories extremely distressing. We really need to look at what sort of money the corporates are making out of this. So I ask those people who are running and how the investors are feeling, how they'd feel if their mother and father was in that aged care home?"