The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) invited nurses, aged care workers and community members to a series of rallies around the country last Saturday – including one strategically held outside the office of federal Labor MP Steve Georganas, the Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport, in Adelaide who addressed the 200-person crowd along with Labor MP Natalie Cook.
SA ANMF Chief executive officer Professor Elizabeth Dabars says the campaign is “just the very start”.
Their 2016 study shows on average residents need four hours and 18 minutes of care a day – the current average is two hours and 50 minutes.
The ANMF is also asking supporters to post a message on Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt’s Facebook page and tell him what the problems are in aged care after he made “unfair comments against nurses and carers” in this story here last week.
“Australian nurses and carers will not be blamed, shamed or intimidated into silence. We will not rest until federal laws are put in place and elder neglect ends. We will not be held responsible for a federal government system that is desperately failing tens of thousands of elderly Australians,” ANMF federal Secretary Annie Butler writes.
Strong words. Expect to hear more from the nurses’ unions.
