STOP INCREASING THE PRESSURE ON AGED CARE NURSES AND CARERS!

Increasing pressure on registered nurses and personal care workers is compromising the care of residents living in private and not-for-profit aged care facilities. ANF (Victorian Branch) is about to start negotiations with employers in more than 600 of these facilities across the state for improved wages and working conditions. This website is a place for nurses, personal care workers, aged care residents and their families and supporters to speak up and help make the Value Aged Care Nursing Properly campaign a success.

IMPROVED PAY

Registered nurses employed in private and not-for-profit aged care residential aged care facilities are paid at least 20 per cent less than their hospital and public aged care nursing colleagues. Employers are finding it difficult to recruit and retain enough nurses who are willing to work for lower wages in private aged care.

IMPROVED WORKLOADS

Nursing staff workloads must be improved so resident care is not compromised. There are no legislated minimum nursing levels in private aged care. It is not uncommon for a private aged care facility to have one registered nurse for every 30 or 60 residents. This is unacceptable.

THE FUNDING QUESTION

The Federal Government will spend $28.6 billion on residential aged care over the next four years. The ANF cannot accept the private aged care industry's claim that it is underfunded, and cannot afford higher wages for nurses or to employ more nursing staff, until employers are required to provide details of how taxpayer money is spent.

Latest News

Aged Care funding needs more scrutiny

By Yvonne Chaperon | June 3, 2009

The Australian Nursing Federation (Victorian Branch) is welcoming moves by the Federal Government to crackdown on the use of accommodation bonds by aged care providers.

The Federal Government is planning to increase provider accountability through greater levels of reporting.

While this is a good first step in ensuring aged care consumers receive high quality care the Federal Government needs to go further and institute mechanisms, such as legislation, that ensure openness and accountability in the way all public funds are spent in aged care.

Yvonne Chaperon, Assistant Secretary said huge amounts of public money are poured into aged care annually, but we don’t know how this money is spent. It could be spent on infrastructure, it could be spent on capital costs, it could be on profit, we just don’t know how it is spent. We need accountability for this Federal Government funding that goes into the sector.

The Federal Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliott, should put in place mechanisms to assess where the funding goes and whether the amount of funding is adequate for the care required by older Australians in nursing homes.

On one side the providers of aged care say they are going broke and on the other hand the government says they are getting enough money, in the meantime nothing changes and older Australians and the nursing and care staff looking after them are struggling to continue to provide quality care.

Nursing staff in aged care tell the ANF they are concerned about the continued financial pressures on the care they give – pressure that constrains their ability to deliver the quality of care that older Australians deserve.

What needs to be established is how the money is used and why providers cannot afford to give nursing staff fair wages and better working conditions. Aged Care nurses should be paid the same rates as their colleagues in the public sector.

What we desperately need is more nursing staff, the right mix of worker skills across the aged care sector, and of course, greater accountability for funding.

The ANF’s Because We Care campaign will bring greater accountability to the industry and help clarify claims about funding made by aged care providers.

The campaign is calling on government to recognise the work of our highly skilled and dedicated aged care nursing and care staff and ensure they can deliver quality care into the future.

More information about the campaign can be found at www.becausewecare.org.au

Media Release: Australian Nursing Federation calls for Australia’s nursing homes to be government priority

By admin | June 3, 2009

In response to reports of an increase in the number of serious complaints to the Department of Health and Ageing’s Complaints Investigation Scheme (CIS) Ged Kearney, Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) federal secretary said the Australian government must make Australia’s nursing homes a priority.

“It is terrible to hear reports of frail older Australians coming to harm when they so clearly deserve to be treated with the utmost dignity, respect and care.”

Ms Kearney said Australia’s nursing homes mainly provided high standards of care but she acknowledged that there was pressure on the industry and said that there would not be a single solution to the problems in aged care.

“Aged care needs a coordinated approach bringing solutions to key areas of need which is why the ANF is running the because we care campaign.”

Ms Kearney said the main aims of the ANF’s national campaign include:

  1. The right balance of skills and nursing hours so that nursing and care staff can provide quality care for every resident.
  2. Fair pay for aged care nurses and care staff who are paid up to $300 per week less than nurses in other sectors.
  3. Recognition of the professional skills of Assistants in Nursing and care staff through a national licensing system.
  4. A guarantee that taxpayer funding is used for nursing and personal care for each resident.

“Without the right numbers and mix of skilled and educated assistants in nursing, enrolled and registered nurses in aged care we are concerned that nursing homes will remain under pressure;” Ms Kearney said.

Ms Kearney said any discussion on aged care reform must include the voice of nursing staff working in aged care who keep older Australians well and in the community with dignity and compassion.

“Aged care is not babysitting, it is not a lifestyle choice, and it cannot be run on the smell of an oily rag. Older people in nursing homes have complex health needs that demand high quality care. Many things are uncertain in this life but there is no escaping old age.”

Media inquiries
Ged Kearney, ANF federal secretary, 0417 053 322
Lee Thomas, ANF Assistant Federal Secretary 0419 576 590

For information on because we care go to: http://www.becausewecare.org.au

It is time to value aged care nursing properly for better resident care.

By Yvonne Chaperon | June 12, 2008

Everyone who has a parent, grandparent or relative living in a residential aged care facility hopes that their loved one will receive quality care. People are now able to live in their own homes for much longer with the help of their family and community services. This means if and when they do need to move into a residential aged care facility they require more expert nursing care than ever before because they are older, more frail and usually have multiple and complex diseases and chronic conditions.

Nurses’ wages and working conditions are intrinsically linked to the quality of care they are able to provide residents. If wages are low, the facility will be unable to recruit and retain enough permanent nurses to fill the roster. If workloads are too high, nurses will not have enough time to assess and monitor residents’ health and vital signs. Resident care will be compromised.

Today ANF members employed in private and not-for-profit aged care facilities from across Victoria will be meeting to decide on their claim for improved wages and conditions. This claim will be the basis of the ANF’s negotiations with the employers at more than 600 private and not-for-profit aged care facilities.

This website is designed to support their campaign for wages and conditions that value aged care nursing properly for better resident care. I encourage nurses and personal care workers to support this campaign by posting a comment on this website. If you are a resident or have a loved one living in an aged care facility I invite you to post comments to support the nursing staff’s campaign to improve Victoria’s aged care system.

Please post a comment to support the nurses’ campaign.