LATEST NEWS AND RESEARCH
AcrosstheNation – Aged Care
Signs point to higher wages support from new Federal Government The Fair Work Commission (FWC) recent decision to increase the minimum wage by 5.2% bode well for the ANF’s work value case currently before the FWC where we are seeking a 25% increase in wages for aged care staff. The FWC will hold its final hearings in August and we expect a decision in October. Meanwhile, the new Federal Labor Government continues to make public comments in support of higher wages for aged care workers and they will be making a submission to our work value case in the same way they made a submission to the recent minimum wage case. The Federal Government has promised to fund higher aged care wages and Minister Butler recently said: the current low wages paid to aged care workers are “not fair” and “not sustainable… if we’re going to get the number of aged care workers, nurses, carers and other workers we need today, but particularly are going to need into the future as our population continues to age.”
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Tasmanian aged care nurse suspended after stealing painkillers from work to treat her own cancer pain. According to the recent decision of Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, Melissa How took 43 Panamax tablets, 10 Tramadol tablets, 20 Oxazepam tablets and 33 Panadeine Forte tablets from two residential aged care facilities she worked at during 2020. The 49-year-old also admitted to removing the memory card from a hidden camera that was placed in the medication room at one of the facilities where she worked. Ms How told the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia she’d been awaiting surgery and treatment, suffering with back pain and abdominal cramping – but due to the Covid pandemic, found it hard to get to a doctor. She said while at work, she’d struggled to deal with the pain and found it hard to get through an eight-hour shift without pain relief. Ms How said she now realised she’d made a “stupid decision” to take medication from work that she’d run out of at home. The tribunal noted there was no evidence any patient had suffered harm as a result of Ms How’s actions, noting the nurse was “sincerely sorry and remorseful for what she had done”. Ms How was found guilty of professional misconduct and suspended her registration until September 10 this year. It also ordered her to undergo education covering ethical conduct and practice as a nurse.
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western nurse June-July 2022
RN 24/7 in aged care Mark Butler
Newly minted Federal Health Minister Mark Butler says he will introduce legislation as early as July to deliver the Albanese government’s aged care reforms delivering on its election promise to make sure there is a Registered Nurse on every shift.
Mr Butler said the government was drafting the bill “to present to the parliament as soon as it opens”, while also working on a plan to boost the nursing workforce. He has asked his department to update its workforce modelling to factor in part-time aged care nurses who might pick up extra hours. “I don’t buy the argument from the former government that the difference between having a registered nurse on site 16 hours a day and 24 hours a day will have to be filled by vast numbers of nurses brought in from overseas,” Butler said. The minister also said he hoped that better working conditions would persuade former aged care nurses and personal carers to return to the sector, but concedes immigration will play a role in filling some of the vacancies. Health Department modelling provided to the former government estimated that an extra 14,000 nurses would be needed to make good on their commitment to have a registered nurse on-site for 16 hours a day. The new government’s aged care bill will also set up a new aged care funding model due to start on October 1 - which the Coalition failed to legislate before the election along with the first stage of minimum staffing - with an average daily 200 care minutes per resident from October 2023. That standard includes 40 minutes with a registered nurse and requires a registered nurse to be on-site for a morning and afternoon shift.
ANF Aged Care Campaign shift votes across all states The nation-wide ANF campaign to highlight fixing aged care as an election issue, clearly had an effect on voters according to one poll conducted by the Australian National University. In the poll, held just before the election, voters rated fixing the aged care system as the second priority for the next federal government behind the cost of living. All the ANF state branches across Australia were involved in the multimillion dollar advertising blitz with ads running in every state and territory. The pre-election advertising blitz built on the work done by all the ANF branches over the previous two years to highlight significant changes needed in the aged care sector and to lobby politicians to actually support and implement meaningful solutions. The aim of the final advertising blitz was to further increase the public’s awareness of aged care issues as they head to the polling booths or as they cast their postal ballot.
The 4 key areas of focus for the ANF ads were: • Improved wages and conditions. • Mandated staffing ratios and the right skills mix
• RN24/7 – at least one registered nurse on site at all times. • Greater transparency of the funding tied to care
