Anglicare seeks nurse shortage solution
Aged care provider, Anglicare, is calling for urgent action to redress a critical shortage of registered nurses.
It says while the number of high needs residents requiring greater medical care has increased, the new funding mechanism from the Commonwealth has effectively cut the budget of many nursing homes.
Anglicare’s Di Flecknoe-Brown says lower pay rates and a high workload in aged care are exacerbating the shortage of registered nurses, and not-for-profit aged care providers cannot match the pay offered by public and private hospitals.
“In real terms the are not just residents, the have become patients, because they have complex wound management, behavioural management, depression; they have Alzheimers; they have senile dementia; or they have had a major stroke; or they have a physical disability, and all of that requires a multi-disciplinary team to look after them”, she said.
