Aged care in crisis
Tue 27 November 2007
Sasha Pcino, Bachelor of Journalism
The aged care industry is in crisis due to low wages and a skills shortage, potentially compromising the care of residents.
Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) assistant federal secretary Gerardine Kearney said aged care nurses were on average paid $A250 less per week and earned up to $A20,000 less per year than their colleagues working in other areas.
Low wages and a lack of funding have inevitably contributed to the skills shortage, as nurses can earn more working in a different field.
Ms Kearney said the government needed to establish minimum staff numbers.
This would minimise understaffed workplaces and allow staff to spend more time with patients, thus ensuring quality care.
Mooloolaba SCT community services officer Linda Braby said about 60 students undertook aged care courses every year.
Aged care centre clinical manager and auditor Charmaine Johnson said her qualifications cost about $A35,000 and include: a Bachelor of Arts in aged care and disability, Bachelor of Nursing, and a Bachelor of Health Management.
Mrs Johnson, 48, was satisfied with her salary, and said workers had many opportunities to receive higher wages through completing courses.Mrs Johnson said she had worked in the aged care industry for about 15 years and had not encountered any problems with the former government’s industrial relations laws, known as Work Choices.
Mrs Johnson said that as a manager she was contracted to work between 40 and 60 hours per week. She said her workplace had plenty of staff to cater for residents.
Whether people want to stay or leave “has to do with working conditions, the conditions that you provide," she said.
Government funding is vital in providing satisfactory working conditions for workers and also adequate care for residents. Funding varies depending on whether aged care homes are public or private.
Mrs Johnson said there definitely needed to be more funding and “more government incentives out there to encourage people to come into the field”.
Mrs Johnson also said there should be more positive publicity about the aged care industry. She said her company embraced best practice, workplace health and safety plus had the latest equipment, which made for a good working environment.
Mrs Johnson said her company was ethical and moral as well as never having failed an accreditation.
However, the ANF’s assistant federal secretary Gerardine Kearney said: “revelations that nearly half of all aged care facilities audited in Queensland failed to meet accreditation standards, is indicative of serious and ongoing problems facing the aged care sector around the nation."
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