Agency nurses are being forced to apply for Centrelink benefits despite Australia being in the midst of the worst health crisis in living memory.
Janette* is an endorsed enrolled nurse (EEN), and has been working in aged care for six years.
She comes from a nursing family – her mother and grandmother were nurses – and they have always always been proud of their ability to find work in a range of places and at various stages of their lives.
But COVID-19 has changed that.
“I always said you can always get a job as a nurse. But I don’t believe that any more,” Janette told HelloCare.
Agency nursing shifts have dried up completely, Janette told HelloCare when we caught up earlier in the week. As a consequence, many nurses are struggling to make ends meet despite the heavy demands on the healthcare system in the response to COVID-19.
Janette is on the books of two aged care agencies and is on a casual bank for an aged care facility. But at the beginning of February, when fears about COVID-19 began ramping up, she noticed agency shifts were disappearing.
“Scared” aged care facility staff are cancelling holidays and they’re not taking sick leave, so shifts are just not becoming available, Janette suggested. Nurses who worked in surgeries that have been closed have also absorbed some of the available work. “It’s like a ripple effect,” Janette said.
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation federal secretary, Annie Butler, told HelloCare the work shortages are an unintended consequence of COVID-19 staffing measures.
“In preparing to surge the workforce and our hospital capacity for the potential COVID-19 outbreak, which was absolutely the right thing to do, we saw an unintended consequence for casual nurses across all sectors due to significantly reduced activity losing hours and shifts,” she told HelloCare.
Ms Butler said ANMF members also claim employers are trying to restrict aged care workers to only one employee, with disastrous consequences for casual and agency staff.
“Our members are reporting… their employer is seeking to limit them to one employer only, without offering them additional hours to compensate for the loss of work and income.
“We are investigating the legality of this situation and will be discussing these issues with the government.”
Janette said she does have a degree of relief she’s working less between facilities.
The aged care facility where she is on the casual bank has excellent infection control measures, and when working in a less controlled environment she might be more at risk of being exposed to the virus and forced to stay home for two weeks – leaving her without an income.
Since early February, Janette has only worked one six-hour agency shift, and no future shifts are showing up on the app she uses to access jobs. “A lot of other nurses are in the same boat as me,” she said.
“There have been people who haven’t had work, or they’ve only had one shift a week.”
These nurses are being forced to live off their credit cards, with many only having minimal savings. Nurses with children will receive parenting payments, while others are being forced to join the queues at Centrelink.
“They’ll take whatever (financial support) they can,” Janette said.
Janette counts herself one of the lucky ones. She is still able to work some shifts at the aged care facility where she is on the casual bank.
Many aged care staff will not be entitled to government COVID-19 support payments, and those who are will only receive the payments from May.
“To be an eligible casual employee, a person must have had regular and systematic casual work with the one employer for the 12 months from 1 March 2019,” Ms Butler explained.
“In addition, because employers must demonstrate a 30% downturn in business, it may be possible that a number of casually employed nurses will be ineligible to receive payments.”
Nurses working in the public sector or for private hospitals generally won’t be eligible either, Ms Butler said.
The nurses without work are struggling, Janette told HelloCare. “They don’t know what’s coming week to week. It’s like a mind game.”
But working during COVID-19 is also full of challenges, she said.
“It’s exhausting going to work. Someone coughs or sneezes and you think, ‘am I going to get a call tomorrow’. You never know. It’s such unpredictable times.”
When Janette realised she wasn’t coping, her workplace provided her with telephone counselling services, which have helped. “I picked up that I was stressed and I called them, but a lot of people aren’t aware of that free service that the workplace provides,” Janette noted.
“Measures to assist the aged care workforce, including how to ensure vacancies are filled, should be put in place across the sector,” Ms Butler suggested.
“Aged care workers required to self-isolate or take leave must be paid and the cost of replacement staff met.
“Casual employees in particular must be supported. They are likely to lose work and also not be eligible for JobKeeper.”
* Name has been changed.
Image: Martin-dm, iStock.
Well you take the big bucks with no commitment to any one facility, this is the downside of not belonging anywhere.
That is really unfair
I have been on casual bank with one Aged Care Corporation and while there are not as many shifts I am getting by. Yes money is about $11 pr hr extra as a casual RN but I save the extra to pay for sick days and Annual leave So really works out the same I do not work casual for the money I work so I can have flexibility for family especially to support my Mum after the sudden loss of one if my brothers last year.
I only need to work a couple of days pr week but have often worked extra to help out. And I accept that I sm casual and risk the work not being there. I am fully committed and belong where I work as all our casuals do I worked 3yrs agency work while studying and always put in 100% and tgat was appreciated. We all need to be kind to each other 😊
What amazes me is that Australia really has no massive pandemic at all. So why cut staff back and make them stay with same employer? Well it would be a different scenario if Australia was as bad as Europe but we aren’t are we. Makes me wonder if this whole thing was invented to rock the world in such a way that countries can now actually “clean the slate” of all their “problems.” Let’s face it why are world governments of our aged, disability and poor suddenly putting the whole world on a stand still for the same people they refer to as “financial Burdens” on countries and suddenly. Convenient. Don’t expect Nurses to get the pay they are used to in the near future. America and Europe pay well below what qualified nurses should be paid and I can see this happening here in time. Foureign health care nurses and others eg: doctors, physicians and AINs will not be paid what they are now. If anything the conditions and pay will drop further.