Labor leader Anthony Albanese has confirmed that the party will look to recruit health workers from overseas to fulfil its promise of having at least one registered nurse in every aged care facility at all times.
As part of last month’s budget reply, Mr Albanese vowed that there would be one registered nurse in every aged care facility at all times within one year of being elected, but the party was accused of backtracking only six days later when Labor frontbencher Mark Dreyfus conceded that they may have to “pause” its plan due to staffing shortages.
In a recent op-ed in The Australian newspaper, Mr Albanese doubled down on the promise and revealed that nurses and doctors from overseas would be brought in to help meet the commitment.
“Now, 80% of nurses in aged care are currently working part-time, they want more work but they can’t get it because of the way the sector is working.
“We do need to train more nurses and aged care workers.
“The question is, do older Australians deserve dignity and respect in their later years … My answer to that is yes and I’m determined to deliver it.
Labor also pledged to open 50 GP urgent care clinics across the country, but shadow Health Minister Mark Butler does not believe that foreign workers will be needed to ensure the plan goes ahead.
“I’ve been inundated by general practice organisations calling our office, emailing in the past several days saying they want to be part of this,” said Mr Butler.
Moves to mandate at least one registered nurse at all times across all aged care homes comes in response to the aged care royal commission recommendations.
The Morrison government says that it does support the recommendation, but it will look to achieve the outcome closer to the July 2024 timeframe suggested by the commission.
Labor’s promise to meet this recommendation within a year of being elected has been welcome news to families and many overworked aged care staff.
Well that’s a bandaide fix if ever there was one. Typical of Labour to not see the big picture and realise that overseas workers will not fix but contribute to the low level of care our seniors are currently receiving.
Increase funding so staff can have the proper training and remuneration that is in line with the type of work required. This will attract higher quality candidates for these position and help maintain staffing levels.
Most of the workers in Aged Care are from overseas. Nobody else wants the job. The shortages are ,partly, due to Covid as nobody could come into the country. The staff were either a close contact or had Covid, and there were no people to fill the gap because overseas workers are the only ones doing Aged Care. Where my husband was, they had full time RN’s always.
I have no issue with bringing people in from overseas to fill vacancies in Aged Care. I do however have an issue with the lack of planning for where these people will live-especially in Rural areas. There is a lack of suitable accommodation in many country towns where Aged Care facilities are located . Aged Care Industry Staff will be competing with other overseas workers coming in for farming/fruit growing in what is already a slim market for accommodation. We need qualified staff to fill positions in Aged Care but they will need somewhere to live.
PLEASE ensure that these wonderful people speak English! Elderly people often have difficulty hearing effectively and trying to also navigate an accent can result in misunderstandings on both sides ‼️
We have a considerable portion of our staff from overseas and in particular Nepal. They are without doubt an asset to any facility with excellent English, empathy and christian values.
Unfortunately young Australians aren’t applying for care jobs but then again they aren’t applying for waiter jobs, kitchen hands, cleaners, bar jobs, coffee shop hands, service station jobs, gardeners etc etc or most anything that the previous generations saw as a step towards financial security and simply a way to put food on the table.
There are many hardworking young Aussies but there are many that seem to want more and are prepared to do nothing until the perfect job flops in their laps.
The overseas carers are grateful of the jobs and I’d happily take more and I thank them for doing such an important job very well.