Today is a great day to acknowledge the tremendous contribution made by Australia’s hundreds of thousands of volunteers, carers, nurses, allied health professionals, cleaners, administrative staff and the many others who work in aged care.
I am immensely proud of our aged care workforce and your commitment to care for and enrich the lives of others.
The Australian Government and the aged care industry are partners in a national effort to ensure our aged care system delivers quality and safe care for all senior Australians.
While the Royal Commission is challenging, it is also an important opportunity to deliver the reforms that will improve care and confidence in the sector for the next decade and beyond.
As aged care employees, you are the heart and soul of our nation’s efforts to ensure that our parents, grandparents, friends and loved ones are able to age with dignity, care and respect.
I’ve been extremely impressed by the dedication and professionalism of the many aged care employees I’ve had the opportunity to meet so far.
I look forward to hearing more of your stories and listening to the great ideas you have about how we can make Australian aged care even better.
I thank you for your commitment to improving the lives of so many.
More staff would be a good start Richard. Still waiting. So many staff taking sick leave at my place of employment we only have 2 staff working 2 wards of 17 residents in the mornings with all their physical and mental issues. Do you have any idea what is involved? From 6.30 in the morning you are designated a ward of 17 mostly frail 1 to 3 assist residents. Showering is done as quick as they can do them as they have at least 20 to do every morning. Some residents need full hoists with 2 staff minimum to hoist to the toilet then hoist to the shower chair. Then dressing then hoisting to a fall out chair. And that is before breakfast where so many need assistance with feeding. All the appreciation in the world just doesn’t cut it anymore Richard. Money speaks the loudest and ratios need putting in place NOW as well! THIS YEAR! Don’t pretend to know what we AINs do on a daily basis as you could not possibly know what we are exposed to. No wonder we go through months of being short staffed regularly as the staff that are asked to work a double shift or stay back longer to cover the sick become sick themselves. And another thing.. most staff are too scared to say they can’t stay back for fear of having hours cut or being told they are not being supportive of the residents. Come on let’s get this problem solved. Pay better for better quality staff and get the ratios sorted. We are not machines. We are humans that may end up in age care as residents ourselves soon enough. Probably sooner with the amount of physical work loads placed upon us! Did you come out and advocate for women in the aged care sector on International Women’s Day? More pay and ratios to show respect to the women that will be looking after you one day? Doesn’t discriminate this old age or dementia. We will all get there one day so start the ball rolling!