AUSTRALIA SHOULD BE A WORLD LEADER IN AGED CARE DELIVERY

Press release December 15, 2018 Aged care Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation ANMF

Today, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) and key national medical groups have been joined by Professor John Pollaers, Chair of the 2018 Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce, in calling on Prime Minister Morrison, the Government and all sides of the Australian Parliament, to legislate and fund minimum staffing ratios that deliver the holistic care plans required to ensure safe and best practice care for all elderly Australians.

In June this year, the Taskforce delivered its report ‘A Matter of Care – Australia’s Aged Care Workforce Strategy’, which identified 14 strategic actions aimed at boosting workforce supply, addressing demand issues and improving workforce productivity. However, Professor Pollaers and the Federal Secretary of the ANMF, Ms Annie Butler, along with key medical groups, are deeply concerned that the report’s recommendations risk being ignored by politicians, who have now deferred the crisis in aged care to a Royal Commission.

Professor Pollaers and Ms Butler said today they recognise the Aged Care Royal Commission is important and necessary, but it should not mean a delay in reforms. If we continue to delay doing what we know is right it means at least another 18 months of pain and suffering for the elderly and, potentially, too many undignified deaths.  At the same time, we need to acknowledge the efforts of those in the workforce and aged care industry who strive daily to support those in need.

Following the statement from the ANMF, AMA, RACGP and ANZSGM, today Professor Pollaers and Ms Butler reiterate that:

“Australia has the opportunity to be a world leader in our delivery of aged care just as we are in our delivery of health care. Older Australians, those who cared for us as we grew, are entitled to affordable, accessible and high‐quality aged care services delivered by a professionally trained, accredited and dedicated workforce. They do not deserve the current chronic understaffing and underfunding that leads to unnecessary wait lists, unmet expectations, pain and suffering.

“Studies identify that the main reason for missed care, or low‐quality care, in residential aged care

facilities is that there is not enough staff available. And in a sector with an increasingly poor record of

recruitment and retention of nurses and other key staff, shortages are now reaching critical

proportions.

 

“Caring for elderly people, especially those with behavioural and psychological symptoms of Dementia and other disabling health conditions, is a stressful occupation requiring the right people with the right knowledge and skills to develop and implement holistic care plans customised to individual needs. Holistic care plans require focus on clinical, functional, and cognitive health along with living well aspirations and cultural needs. The workforce’s skills mix and staffing levels also needs to reflect the differing needs of all residents at different times.

 

“A living well model of care, which enables effective care delivery by dedicated registered nurses with qualified care‐workers and is guided by interdisciplinary teams of general practitioners, geriatricians, palliative care specialists, nurse practitioners, dietitians, speech pathologists and allied health workers, will result in safe and best practice care for our elderly.

 

“But the only way we can be sure that every elderly Australian has access to the safe and best practice

care they deserve is to legislate minimum staffing ratios in aged care that deliver the holistic care plans

required.

 

“Staffing ratios need not stifle innovation. Instead, they can lay the foundation on which better quality

standards can be built. And while mandated staffing ratios alone are not the only indicator of high-quality

aged care services, it is certain that high quality care cannot be achieved without them.

 

“We know it requires investment, but we also know that the investment will be recovered through

more jobs and by productivity gains over time. All politicians must face up to the funding shortfall required to ensure the minimum staffing levels and skills mix are in place and that government funding is tied to the delivery of holistic care.

 

“The measure of a society is how it cares for its elderly, those who cared for us.

 

“Right now we don’t measure up, but we can, and we can become the world leader in care for the

elderly we should be.”

 

 

ANMF media release authorised by Annie Butler, ANMF Federal Secretary. 1/365 Queen St, Melbourne. 

The ANMF, with over 275,500 members, is the industrial and professional voice for nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing in Australia.

 

ANMF media inquiries: Richard Lenarduzzi 0411 254 390

Subjects

---

Aged care Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation ANMF