Staff are told to encourage residents to drink plenty of water to stay hydrated, but the same encouragement hasn’t been shown to them.

We’ve heard concerns that staff may become dehydrated during their shift, as water coolers are being removed from around the home and staff have limited access to their water bottles, so we wrote to Facility Manager Judith Warren about the issue.

Judith said:

”The water coolers were removed in direct response to a request from the Infection Control Audit by the Aged Care Commission however I do not have an issue with staff having their own water bottles - however need to be labelled etc and not left on handrails all around the facility - which does occur. There are nurse’s stations in Boronia and Waratah where they can keep them and Acacia has the main nurse’s station and we nominate a place in an area in Acacia's small sitting/dining room.”

Judith added that she’s happy to talk with staff about these issues, so if you have more questions, pop your head in and have a chat with her in the first instance. If you believe it’s falling on deaf ears then give HACSUassist a call so we can follow up.