ANF says Aged Care Can't Wait
Published: 4 August 2011
The final Productivity Commission (PC) report into aged care, to be released next Monday, must acknowledge the urgent need for an injection of funding required for Australia’s under-resourced aged care sector, the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) said today.
It is understood that the report will outline a funding overhaul of the sector, but the ANF says any reform must also address the provision of care for elderly Australians and the almost $500 million required to close the wages gap for nurses and assistants in nursing (AINs) working in aged care.
"Fixing aged care can’t wait – it has to happen now," ANF Federal Secretary, Lee Thomas, said today.
"Whilst new economic measures are imperative, the job of reforming aged care is only half done if it doesn’t include the urgent funding that must address critical workforce issues such as funding for more nursing staff."
The ANF says the sector needs more than 20,000 extra nursing staff to provide quality care for elderly Australians in residential aged care.
"The shortage is getting worse and we will need to triple our aged care workforce to meet the demand of an ageing population," Ms Thomas explained.
"We need to fix the shortage now so that we aren’t starting this aged care reform on the back foot.
"The shortage of aged care nursing staff is already having a real impact, with independent analysis showing on average nursing home residents are on average, receiving just 22 minutes of care from a nurse each day.
"But one of the main reasons we can’t recruit and then retain aged care nurses and AINs is because of the significant wages gap experienced by aged care nursing staff across the country.
"Aged care nurses are paid between $168 and $390 on average less per week than nurses working in public hospitals.
"The PC report acknowledged that wage disparity for aged care nursing staff in its draft report but its final report must now lay the foundation for the Gillard Government to deliver on its commitment to fixing aged care in its second term.
"Budget 2012 must be the aged care Budget for the sake of elderly Australians, their families and the staff that care for them when we cannot."
Ms Thomas said the extra funding would assist in ensuring "there is the right balance of skills and nursing hours so that nurses and assistants in nursing are able to deliver quality care for every resident.
"Our growing membership across the aged care sector believe the Gillard Government must urgently address these issues if we have any chance of providing the quality care our elderly Australians receive," she said.
"The ANF’s ongoing Because We Care campaign is calling on the Gillard Government to honour its commitment of fixing Australia’s aged care system and includes a provision that there is greater transparency to ensure any extra funding is directed to the residents of nursing homes."
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