A spokesperson for the Department of Health said it’s expected about 5% of providers will be eligible to apply.
A one-off 12-month exemption from the 24/7 RN requirement will be available to small residential aged care facilities with 30 approved beds, or less, that are located in Modified Monash Model (MMM) 5 to 7 areas – areas from small rural towns to very remote communities.
The Department is considering "alternative arrangements to an onsite RN for aged care homes unable to recruit sufficient RNs due to workforce shortages” – however, according to the Department’s internal “Hot Topic Brief”, released under a Freedom of Information request, this work "will commence by the end of the year”.
That could be too late for some providers.
