“This is a very historic moment”

RN Jocelyn Hoffman has worked in aged care for 36 years and played a prominent part in the NSWNMA’s campaign for aged care reform.

Jocelyn has lobbied numerous politicians and spoken at many meetings in support of better staffing and working conditions in nursing homes.

In 2018, she spoke at a Sydney rally to launch the NSWNMA campaign for guaranteed staff-to-resident ratios in aged care.

She told the rally that aged care had become a commodity traded on the share market since the Howard government deregulated the sector with the Aged Care Act 1997.

“This loosely worded legislation has led to most nursing homes being dangerously understaffed. Yet alarmingly, they manage to pass accreditation checks,” she said.

“Our vulnerable elderly residents have been put at the mercy of whatever level of care companies will provide.

“How many more heartbreaking scandals do we have to endure before our government will act on the staffing crisis?” she asked.

Last month, Jocelyn said she was excited that aged care workers “are finally being recognised and valued”.

“Thank you to our NSWNMA and our ANMF. We are going in leaps and bounds now compared to the past,” she said during an online briefing for NSWNMA members in the sector.

She urged aged care workers to join the union because “we cannot trust providers to do the right thing. It is only through our collective power that we can hold providers to account.”

“This is a very historic moment and we cannot allow government money allocated for this pay increase to go back to the providers, to buy their chandeliers and their pianos and their expensive cars.

“This money belongs to us. We worked so hard for it; we risked our lives through the pandemic.

“The community is behind us but you can’t do this on your own – you really need to join the union.”

‘It is only through our collective power that we can hold providers to account.’—Jocelyn Hoffman, RN