I think you get what you pay for. If you have enough money you can be in a good one, most people are in a budget home. They are places where staff either break down under stress or become hardened to weak and feeble old people that have a basic sad existence and then die.
My fathers home in early 2000s had about 200 residents and 6 staff on any given shift plus a few casuals, the staff worked their butts off for award wages. His valuable belongings (watches, ring, books) were lost (stolen) by (probably casual) staff over 3 years, The residents clothes were randomized to each other through the laundry process. The food was atrocious if the family could not visit my father in his home he would have lost a lot of weight and strength, we took him good food because he asked us to. The minimal staff did not have time to sit and feed very weak residents or sit and talk so volunteers (family of other residents) would help . Some residents had no family help and just wasted away and died over 6 months to a year. Some residents were not super old but were confused and mentally disturbed with dementia or schizophrenia and occasionally would violently attack other very old weak residents and visitors, knock them over , kick them etc for no reason, the staff and family visitors would intervene if they were nearby but it was a horrible situation to mix these residents. Mum visited dad and a few friends in the home every day for 8 hours feeding them, talking, reading to them, but she swore she would never go there and she passed from cancer a few years after dad passed.
Large regional town, no other options. Hopefully i make enough money with super investments to get a good place if/when I need it. Looks like a budget option at the moment.
