Heatwaves, floods and storms disrupting frontline care across Australia, new report
New research led by Dr Rebecca Huntley at 89 Degrees East, commissioned by the UnitingCare Australia network and Uniting NSW.ACT, reveals a care and community services workforce across Australia that is caring and committed – but increasingly challenged by extreme weather made worse by climate pollution.
The findings are stark - 91% of our people surveyed have been affected by extreme weather in the last five years," Tamara Thomas, National Director of UnitingCare Australia said.
"Extreme weather is limiting the support our people can provide, increasing workloads, disrupting access to clients, and taking a significant toll on the physical, mental and emotional wellbeing of our staff and clients," Ms Thomas said.
"These impacts span service delivery, wellbeing, logistics and capacity right across our network.
"Nearly 1 in 3 frontline workers reported that extreme weather has put them in an unfair position where they feel conflicted about whether they should put the needs of people they support before their own – an impossible choice our workers should not have to make," Ms Thomas said.
The Extreme Weather Impacts Report draws on a survey of 829 frontline staff from the UnitingCare network across Australia.
"The Report also tells us that our frontline staff are deeply concerned about extreme weather events, especially the impact of these events on the people they support.
"The Report surfaces a reality that too often goes unseen in policy - our frontline care and community services workforce is already carrying extreme weather as a day-to-day operational burden.
"With the right policy settings, investment and partnership, governments and the community services sector can reduce harm, strengthen resilience and ensure that as climate risks intensify, inequality does not deepen alongside them," Ms Thomas said.
Australians are being hit with more frequent and severe unnatural disasters due to climate change. Causing more disruption to homes, to infrastructure, to health, and to the services people rely on.
Alice Salomon, Uniting NSW.ACT's Head of Advocacy said: "The National Climate Risk Assessment, which forecasted 'cascading, compounding, concurrent' hazards and shocks, noted that health and social support services "may not keep up with more frequent, severe and longer duration events".
"Right across our services we are seeing this play out in real time for our staff and clients.
"We were overwhelmed by the take up rate of staff to do the Survey - demonstrating that this is a key issue in the minds of our workforce.
"The Report also shows that our frontline staff demonstrate adaptability, generosity, community-mindedness, making considerable efforts to support others through times of disruption and crisis – often while they also face these when they go home," Alice said.
"These impacts are compounding existing sector-wide pressures but with the right support, staff resilience is strong.
"Most critically, the Report shows that extreme weather deepens entrenched disadvantage.
"We have seen firsthand that heatwaves, fires, floods and storms cause social shocks that erode financial security, strain services and make recovery slower and harder. Without action, climate impacts risk further entrenching this disadvantage," Alice said.
Dr Rebecca Huntley Director at 89 Degrees East said: "This research brings an important and often overlooked group into focus - frontline workers across care and community services who support people who are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of extreme weather events.
"The data we have collected from frontline staff through this research tells a clear story of an essential workforce under pressure.
"What also emerges strongly is the difficult balance many frontline staff are navigating.
"Workers who are deeply committed to supporting vulnerable people are increasingly having to make hard choices about safety, responsibility and capacity before, during and after extreme weather events," Dr Huntley said.
Key Findings:
- 9 out of 10 (or 91%) revealed that they have been affected by extreme weather.
- 77% reported being affected by heatwaves in the past five years; 65% have been affected by severe storms; 52% affected by flooding.
- Around 3 in 10 have been affected by cyclones and bushfires.
- 40% reported that extreme weather events have limited the tasks they could carry out with the people they support.
- 1 in 3 reported extreme weather events, and their flow-on effects, had negatively impacted their own mental and emotional state.
- More than 1 in 5 shared that it has negatively impacted their physical health.
- Close to 2 in 5 reported that it has negatively impacted the people they support.
- Close to 1 in 4 reported taking unplanned time off work.
- Close to 1 in 2 reported the extreme weather caused more financial pressure to their household.
- Nearly 1 in 3 frontline staff (32%) reported that extreme weather has put them in a position where they feel conflicted about whether they should put the needs of people they support before their own.
- Nearly half (46%) of frontline staff working in rural and remote areas felt conflicted, compared to 29% in inner-city and suburban areas and 36% in regional towns.
- 2 in 5 had provided additional assistance to the people they support, such as sharing safety advice, calling emergency, assisting in evacuations or helping people access disaster recovery payments.
- 1 in 2 frontline staff used warning systems to plan how they can work around the extreme weather event.
