ValleyView to look overseas

VALLEYVIEW Residence will struggle to meet new registered nurse (RN) requirements when new nationwide aged care reforms are introduced this year.

From July 1, registered nurses will be required on a 24/7 basis at the facility. The requirement is one of five major reforms to be implemented.

There will also be mandatory 200 minutes of care per resident, per day. This must include 40 minutes of RN care.

The reforms will also include revised aged care quality standards, new governance requirements in December and a potential wage increase for aged care workers.

Chief executive officer Mark Sheldon-Stemm said the facility will look at recruiting RNs from overseas to meet requirements.

“Twenty-four/seven nursing will be extremely difficult for us because we will have trouble attracting the RNs,” he said.

“We have enough during the day, with our clinical nurse Matt Elks. We have one (EN) in the morning, and one in the afternoon.

“But currently on night shift we’re covered solely by enrolled nurses (ENs), with Matt on call every night.”

Mr Sheldon-Stemm said ValleyView struggles to attract RNs because the job doesn’t have the thrill of the emergency room.

“Aged care doesn’t have the glamour of ED, it’s more about managing a series of residents’ comorbidities.

“Nurses aren’t necessarily dealing with emergencies, but dealing with the health of residents daily.

“Recruiting nurses is going to be difficult for us, and it needs to be acknowledged that it will be difficult for rural areas.

“Most rural (aged care) providers are up against hospitals which employ RNs, so we compete with the state government,” he said.

Mr Sheldon-Stemm said he had written to the WA government regarding the recruitment difficulties and received a “very pragmatic response”.

“In Australia, there’s 10,000 vacancies for RNs,” he said.

“It has the highest vacancy rate in Australia. Pay comes in at about number three or four - it is mainly about conditions and the culture of the organisation.”

Mr Sheldon-Stemm said ValleyView already meets the minimum requirement of 200 minutes of care per resident, with residents currently receiving 203 minutes per day.

However he said the facility will struggle to meet the new 40 minute RN part of the reform.

“Currently, between our EDs and our RNs, our residents get more than that,” he said.

“But in terms of 40 RN minutes, we can’t meet that. To do it, we’re going to have to rely on the process we have in place and hope for an exemption.”

Exemptions will apply to the new reforms based on the Monash Modified Model (MMM) remoteness classification.

The model ranks locations using seven categories including being a major city, and seven considered very remote. Collie is rated as “MMM5”.

Based on this, Mr Sheldon-Stemm hopes ValleyView will be eligible for exemptions.

“We will show that we’ve tried, and if we can’t bring nurses in from overseas we will seek an exemption in that we’ve done everything humanly possible,” he said.

“We will challenge that the ENs we have at night time are more than capable of dealing with the issues that we have.”

Mr Sheldon-Stemm said ValleyView’s residents will not be negatively impacted by the new reforms.