Add Category
The government will fail to meet its commitment to staff aged care homes with registered nurses at all times by mid-year, the responsible minister has conceded.
- The aged care minister admits about one in 20 facilities will not have nurses 24/7 by July
- The federal government promised to have around the clock nursing in aged care within a year of winning the election
- The target was a recommendation of the aged care royal commission
Aged Care Minister Anika Wells told ABC's Afternoon Briefing it would not have every facility fully staffed by the government's self-imposed target of July 1, but nearly all facilities would have enrolled nurses on duty.
"We've got 80 per cent of facilities now who are meeting 24/7 nursing requirements, and another 9 per cent who are nearly there or very steadily working towards making it," Ms Wells said.
"We also acknowledge there's probably about 5 per cent of facilities, particularly in our rural and remote areas, who will not be able to get there.
"We're working closely with them to make sure they get the exemptions and support — as do their residents — that they need."
The commitment to have registered nurses on duty, as well as for each resident to receive a minimum 200 minutes of care each day, were both recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
Ms Wells said workforce was the biggest issue in aged care, and acknowledged the sector was thousands of staff short of what it needed.
She said that was why from July the minimum pay standard in the sector was being raised by 15 per cent to encourage more workers in.
As Labor headed into the federal election campaign, the now-Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made a more than $2 billion promise to have nurses 24/7 in aged care homes within a year of winning government.
The then-prime minister Scott Morrison challenged whether that commitment would be possible to achieve, saying if Mr Albanese thought his government could achieve it for $2 billion, "that only underscores that he doesn't understand the detail and complexity of these issues".
Ms Wells said it would take time to fix a sector that had been neglected.
"The workforce shortages we are not going to be able to stop overnight, [but] we are pulling every lever," Ms Wells said.
"I acknowledge we are thousands short, and that's something we inherited."
Health Department figures from late last year, released under Freedom of Information laws, indicated the new staffing rules would create a shortfall of 11,758 registered nurses and 13,679 personal care workers.
Ms Wells previously told the ABC that gap had since shrunk to 8,400 registered nurses and 13,300 personal care workers.
Providers had warned the target was impossible to meet and causing a great deal of stress in the sector.
Shadow Aged Care Minister Anne Ruston challenged whether the government was piling too much pressure on aged care providers.
"Does the Minister also concede that this broken promise is creating serious distress and uncertainty for aged care providers in the midst of a workforce crisis?" Ms Ruston wrote on Twitter.
Ms Wells said the government would work with facilities that believed they would not have nurses in place 24/7 by July, and that there was no intention to close facilities that did not meet the target.
"They won't get the payment for meeting the requirement because we are paying for it. We will not be shutting down facilities," Ms Wells said.