![Advocates for aged care are alarmed over staffing levels in nursing homes. Advocates for aged care are alarmed over staffing levels in nursing homes.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/9805f0f1-5632-40dd-adb9-4fff48410e91.jpg/r0_0_729_410_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Funding cuts to aged care are hitting the nation's nursing homes hard and have been branded "cruel and heartless" by the federal opposition.
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The Sunday Canberra Times revealed last week that advocates for aged care were alarmed over staffing levels in nursing homes, saying too few staff in some facilities meant elderly care was being compromised.
The Federal government withdrew its $16 a day Dementia and Severe Behaviours Supplement on July 31, which had allowed nursing homes to put on extra staff and was aimed at improving quality of life for vulnerable patients.
Opposition aged-care spokesman Shayne Neumann said the axing of the supplement was particularly callous, coming after the federal budget when many of the nation's aged-care facilities thought they knew how much money they could allocate to patient care.
Assistant Social Services minister Mitch Fifield blamed cost blowouts for the decision, saying the supplement could have absorbed $780 million over the four years from 2014-15, rather than the $52 million budgeted.
"There was no other responsible course of action than the difficult decision to cease the supplement within a year of it commencing," he said.
Mr Fifield confirmed the government had also withdrawn the payroll tax subsidy – which had previously put private nursing homes on equal footing with charity-operated facilities which don't pay the tax.
"As payroll tax is a state-based tax the payroll tax supplement is an uncapped indirect transfer of revenue from the Australian Government to the states and territories and the impact of these changes will be somewhat offset by measures to support the sector," he said.
However, privately owned nursing homes will now need to find that money from their budgets to pay the states, meaning they would have less funds to employ staff.
ACT Disability, Aged and Carer Advocacy Service chief executive officer Fiona May said sufficient staff were critical to patient care.
"If a cup of tea is delivered to somebody who has very shaky hands they may not be able to pick it up then it won't be drunk," she said.
"Frail older people don't notice hunger and thirst cues as much as other people and they need that support from staff to ensure they are hydrated and eating enough."
Ms May said she knew of people who needed help to walk from their rooms to the toilet but because there were not enough staff to regularly help them, they would be given incontinence pads instead.
"It leads people to become helpless and we don't want people to have their functioning taken away from them earlier then it naturally has to go."
Anton Hutchinson, proprietor of the Kankinya Aged Care Facility in Lyneham, said the withdrawal of the $16 a day supplement was a real blow.
He said the extra funding had allowed him to hire more staff, implement extra training and conduct activities for dementia patients.
"Now we are providing the services and care but not being paid for it," Mr Hutchinson said.
"The government is smart enough to know we cannot withdraw services – cannot and will not. We care about people."
Mr Hutchinson said he was bracing himself for the withdrawal of the payroll tax subsidy which had previously granted the nursing home $120,000 annually to pay its state government payroll tax bill.