The Australian College of Nursing (ACN) welcomes the aged care reforms outlined by the Minister for Health and Ageing, and Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Mark Butler, in his address to the National Press Club today, and urges the Government to ensure that nursing workforce planning sits at the forefront of every commitment made.
ACN CEO Adjunct Professor Kathryn Zeitz FACN said nurses are at the centre of quality aged care in Australia, and they must be supported to maintain the best possible services for the people in their care.
"The commitment to supporting an additional 5,000 beds a year plus 20 new Specialist Dementia Care Program units is welcome," Adjunct Professor Zeitz said.
"Each of those beds requires nurses. We must invest strongly in workforce planning and skilling up our nursing workforce to deliver the standard of care older Australians deserve."
The Minister's announcement of $3 billion in aged care funding, including roughly $1 billion to make showering, continence management, and dressing free of charge under the Support at Home program, represents a significant and overdue step toward delivering dignity to older Australians.
ACN also notes the Government's decision to return the Private Health Insurance rebate for over-65s to the standard rate, redirecting savings into aged care.
We support the principle that public investment in care for older Australians should be directed where it achieves the greatest impact – and that is in frontline services delivered by qualified professionals.
ACN has called for better support for older Australians with:
- Investment in scholarships for enrolled and registered nurses in aged care settings to complete career and leadership development short courses;
- A dedicated funding stream to scale nurse practitioner-led models in home and residential aged care, to strengthen integration with primary care and improve access, continuity, and system efficiency for older Australians;
- A dedicated provision within the existing RN care minute requirements to allow enrolled nurses to deliver 20 minutes of care per person per day of appropriate delegated care. This will better utilise EN scope, relieve pressure on RNs, and support safe, efficient staffing in residential aged care.
ACN calls on the Government to detail its nursing workforce commitments in the upcoming Budget and to engage the profession as a key partner in implementation.
