As a provider committed to regional aged care, Whiddon and other providers in the senior care industry require clarity around how the Government plans to fund incoming industry reforms to ensure the workforce remains focused and empowered to deliver support for those in care.
Last week, the Government announced changes to the skilled migrant income threshold, raising the pay floor for skilled workers to 70,000 NZD. The sector has eagerly awaited the final details of this announcement and anticipated that the government would take steps to consider the impacts on industries like aged care.
CEO Chris Mamarelis expressed 100 percent support for paying skilled care employees reasonably. He doesn’t know how this will impact the sector or if this will improve the current workforce challenges. Mamarelis stated that he was mindful that it might instead create additional barriers to recruiting assistant nurses and possibly even registered nurses, which is ironic given this is the fundamental challenge Whiddon currently faces as a regional aged care provider.
Workforce shortages, specifically in regional locations, have been well documented. Skilled immigrant workers represent an essential part of the aged care workforce, as do students on working visas who support the elderly in a constrained employment market. These people are critical to our workforce and will ensure businesses such as Whiddon can rise to the positive incoming industry reforms and move towards a person-centric model of care.
Whiddon has faced challenges recruiting key roles, particularly RNs, in the regional communities we support. In the last 12 months, the average time to recruit an RN was more than six weeks, and this average is more prolonged in our regional locations. We should look at more ways to encourage and simplify the process of becoming an RN in our country. The aged care sector has valuable insights and practical solutions for these challenges.
Bringing in more skilled international workers to support the workforce is critical. The workers are currently met with significant hurdles and barriers to navigating the requirements and completing RN bridging qualifications. These bridging courses have strict requirements and, depending on the stream, including attending a practical assessment in Adelaide which is offered once every two months. Another stream requires a bridging course only provided by two institutions, in NSW and WA. There are also significant course fees involved in addition to the cost of attending these locations. Many workers would simply be unable to meet these requirements and, as such, aren’t reaching their full potential as part of the sector workforce.
A path must be made for international workers to obtain qualifications. This process needs to be streamlined. Furthermore, Mamarelis shared that nurses needed better financial support to relocate to regional locations, with New Zealand adopting a similar model to incentivise and address shortages.
In the interim, there are even more straightforward and more cost-effective actions that Government can take. Many of which Mamarelis stated could be mentioned as the absence of these actions is noticed and lost due to bureaucracy.
Mamarelis questioned why the Government chose to re-introduce the cap on working hours applied to student workers, impacting an industry as critical as aged care, which in Whiddon’s case alone, will affect over 1,000 shifts annually.
In addition, new national reporting requirements are about to make it mandatory that aged care employees offer and facilitate interviews with all residents every quarter. While the initiative is a great idea, Mamarelis questioned if there had been consideration t to the impact this will have on an already stretched and tired workforce.
Senior Australians and aged care employees are waiting for the Albanese Government to reveal its hand in next week’s budget. The clarity is needed for the sector to look forward with more confidence and positivity.
