“Aged care services are still finding it extremely difficult to attract and retain staff. If anything, the problem has got worse,” said Jason Kara, CEO of Australia's largest non-Government grouping of health and aged care services.
Catholic Health Australia (CHA), which represents more than 350 residential aged care providers, has made a pre-Budget 2024 submission to the Australian Government urging it to lift pay rates. Separately, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) is currently seeking a 35% pay increase for its Registered Nurses working in aged care from the Fair Work Commission (FWC).
The Federal Government was forced by the FWC to increase wages by 15% to direct aged care workers from July 2023. However, around 100,000 indirect aged care workers were excluded from the 15% wage increase. Their case is still before the FWC.
CHA is calling on the Government to fund a 25% pay increase for all aged staff, direct and non-direct care.
“Right now we have 60,000 care and nursing vacancies and this is projected to hit 110,000 in six years’ time. If the government does nothing, more services will be forced to close because they can’t get qualified staff at currently funded rates," Jason said.
“Non-clinical staff such as kitchen hands, gardeners, and administrators, who are absolutely critical to providing quality care for residents, will leave the industry in droves if they are again overlooked for the pay rise they deserve.
“With most aged care services operating at a loss, and demand increasing as our population ages, the government must support and fund this essential investment in skilled aged care staff.”
CHA is also asking the Commonwealth to:
- To subsidise aged care nurses’ rents by allowing them to pay more of their rent from their pre-tax income;
- Restore national leadership to care workforce planning through the re-establishment of Health Workforce Australia;
- Create a national ‘Health & Care Worker Passport’ to centralise and align compliance checks for hospital, aged, and disability care workers;
- Create an aged care innovation fund or other mechanism to support investment in new models of care, and
- Support sector capital renewal to ensure older Australians have access to safe, comfortable facilities
