The Esperance Aged Care Facility chairperson says it will make changes after auditors found it failed almost all of its performance benchmarks and issued a non-compliance notice.
The Federal Government's Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission investigated the facility on March 16–17 this year.
The audit report, prepared by delegate Janine Renna, said one resident was given an ice-cream bucket when urinals could not be found, another was not showered for three days and management was found to "struggle with difficult conversations" so had not called a family member to discuss circumstances that preceded a relative's death.
The report said many staff had not completed mandatory training, that risks after falls were not well managed, and that management could "not confirm the competency" of the workforce.
The facility was found to be non-compliant with five of the six standards it was assessed against.
Board chairperson Toni Hawkins said it had improved after a similar report in 2021 found the facility posed "an immediate and severe risk to the safety, health or well-being" of those in its care.
"Incremental improvement has been made since the 2021 audit," she said.
"And we continue to work on improving those areas that have been identified."
Ms Hawkins said all the issues identified in the recent report were being addressed in a plan that had been accepted by the commission.
Ms Hawkins also called for volunteer support, saying that after a series of community meetings about aged care this year no one had stepped forward.
"We didn't get anyone sign up to volunteer from those meetings," she said.
"We're a community facility. We need the community to support us."
Ms Hawkins said the finding was "not acceptable" but said the issue had been addressed, with new training and policies to help staff negotiate difficult conversations.
Ice-cream buckets used for urinals
One family member said their relative was given ice-cream buckets, as urinals could not be found, which the resident put their dentures in as they had poor vision.
Another resident was reportedly given psychotropic medication without providing informed consent.
Another was said to have not been showered for three days so tried to wash themselves in a hand basin.
The report said some residents were not properly managed after falls.
Ms Hawkins said improved measures had since been put in place to prevent similar occurrences.
"The health and safety of our residents is absolutely paramount and there can be no excuses about this," she said.
Staff 'kind, caring' but hard to recruit
Ms Renna said there were more than 100 vacant shifts a fortnight across the service with "no evidence" of strategies in place to address difficulties in attracting staff due to the service's remote location.
Ms Hawkins is surprised by that finding and says the facility has a recruitment strategy that is bringing results.
The report also noted staff were "kind, caring and gentle" when providing care and interacted in a "gentle and positive manner".
