WHEN the Federal Government announced a $3B funding package for aged care in the May Federal Budget package, including $1B dedicated to personal care services and the delivery of 5,000 additional aged care beds across the country, the news was welcomed by the Australian College of Nursing (ACN) and the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF).
But the ACN has urged the Government to ensure that nursing workforce planning sits at the forefront of every commitment made.
ACN CEO Adjunct Professor Kathryn Zeitz FACN said nurses are at the centre of quality aged care in Australia, and they must be supported to maintain the best possible services for the people in their care.
“The commitment to supporting an additional 5,000 beds a year plus 20 new Specialist Dementia Care Program units is welcome,” said Adjunct Professor Zeitz.
“Each of those beds requires nurses. We must invest strongly in workforce planning and skilling up our nursing workforce to deliver the standard of care older Australians deserve.”
ANMF Federal Secretary Annie Butler said the multi-billion-dollar investment was a significant step forward in addressing the growing demand for high quality aged care services and follows strong advocacy from the ANMF on behalf of its members working in aged care.
“While we’ve seen some significant reforms in aged care since the Royal Commission, our members continue to tell us that the system is still not fixed,” said Ms Butler.
“The Budget funding package is an important acknowledgment from the Government that the aged care is struggling under ever-increasing demand for services – and we welcome its commitment to structural improvements to the system, especially the changes to funding for in-home personal care services.”
