Care workers, tradespeople, and transport drivers in Australia are being hit hard by ballooning fuel costs, with the United Workers Union warning that older people are in immediate danger because rising petrol prices may prevent home care workers from visiting all their clients. According to a UWU poll of 540 home care workers, each travels an average of 260km a week and could be left out of pocket $160 a week, with some saying they may have to limit driving, provide fewer services, or leave the sector. The broader economic impact extends to multiple sectors, with small mining businesses scaling back operations and some construction companies deciding against hiring more apprentices.
The Master Builders Association is forecasting a downturn in the number of homes that will be built this year, and the National Farmers' Federation said a lack of diesel and fertiliser is hurting producers. In response, industry groups are urging the government to roll out assistance packages or a jobkeeper-style wage assistance program to help businesses avoid laying off staff, while the United Workers Union has called for government-funded fuel vouchers. The exact number of elderly people missing essential care due to fuel cost issues in Australia is not known.
This is high-status professions, and in care and welfare it should be extremely important with competence.
Meanwhile, in Sweden, home care services in Eskilstuna and other municipalities are facing systemic failures, with massive criticism, emergency calls, and revelations about neglect and care deficiencies from users and relatives. Multiple reports indicate that home care staff and Eskilstuna residents with home care have given a picture of an operation in chaos, with worried and stressed users and relatives in great need of help and paying for care they do not receive. In previous reporting, the newspaper has depicted the everyday life of the Berggrund Lundell family and a group of municipal employees, all warning that home care in Eskilstuna has deteriorated.
Staff testimonies reveal an unsustainably stressful work situation causing ill health, with constant understaffing, impossible schedules, weapon threats from users, and employees crying. The couple Eva and Håkan Berggrund Lundell are in great need of home care to manage everyday life, and they reported that the municipal service has gradually become worse and is now chaotic. Lena, who works in another home care district in the municipality, and her colleagues agree with the Berggrund Lundell couple.
The key word we have is security, strengthening security is prioritized.
Municipal responses highlight ongoing challenges, with Cecilia Jonsson, operations manager for the municipal home care service in Eskilstuna, concerned that not all users are satisfied with the municipality's service. Cecilia Jonsson says elderly care in Sweden faces enormous challenges with staffing. To fill gaps in home care, the municipality is forced to order in staff and hire assistant nurses via staffing agencies, with interventions postponed and hope resting on pensioners stepping in to manage the summer.
Majo Brostedt Kuusikoski, chair of Eskilstuna's care and welfare committee, says there should be no more hiring of anyone without care and language skills in elderly care. Regional issues compound the crisis, with several elderly people having to wait for their help at night because home care staff have too much to do. In Motala, the night patrol repeatedly does not have time for all their care recipients, and employees testify to a tough work environment.
We and everyone else in elderly care-Sweden have enormous challenges with staffing elderly care. This is welfare's biggest challenge.
In Ronneby, a completely new work system is to be introduced in home healthcare in a few days, but the employees are not getting any information, and the municipality wants to change home healthcare regarding both working methods and the operation's premises. Union actions and demands are escalating, with the union Kommunal believing the municipality needs to increase staffing if the pressure does not decrease. Safety representatives from three trade unions are demanding that the Swedish Work Environment Authority issue an injunction or stop the operation in Ronneby.
About 50 members of Kommunal were outside the town hall, expressing a lot of worry. Official reactions reveal disputed perceptions, with the care and welfare manager stating they do not have the same perception of the situation. The report on home care was described as a cold shower, with officials having thought the deficiencies had been addressed.
How many elderly people are currently missing essential care due to staffing issues in Sweden remains unclear.