Concern over ‘cleaner’ care
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has expressed alarm about a federal government trial that will reportedly see cleaners trained to identify potential health issues affecting aged care patients. The Bethanie Group in Port Kennedy has received funding to take part in the trial.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has expressed alarm about a federal government trial that will reportedly see cleaners trained to identify potential health issues affecting aged care patients.
The Bethanie Group in Port Kennedy has received funding to take part in the trial.
Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, claims cleaners, cooks and personal care workers will be trained to identify health and wellbeing issues early.
Mr Butler says an ageing population makes it necessary for workers to be as highly skilled as possible.
However, the AMA’s state president, Richard Choong, describes this as a “quick fix”.
“It appears this is more a stop gap measure rather than the government addressing the serious issues,” Dr Choong claims.
“We need more health care workers in aged care because the population is getting older,” he adds.
Bethanie’s chief operating officer, Christopher How, says no cleaners will be doing patient checks as part of the $10.2 million trial.
Mr How says the aim is to expand the skills of workers, with only carers doing basic checks like measuring pulses and temperatures.
He adds cleaners will only be trained to be “more aware” of patient issues.
“What we’re actually going to do is get our hospitality staff to become more aware of the environment around them and be able to elevate, or escalate, any risk that a resident may be having to a trained staff member – like a registered nurse or an enrolled nurse.”
