The federal Coalition government’s latest Budget ignores the urgent need for safe staffing in nursing homes.

The May Budget included an inadequate increase in the long-overdue funding for additional home care packages but contained nothing to ensure aged care providers employ enough nurses and carers.

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) said the big for-profit nursing home operators had the financial capacity to improve staffing but chose to focus on max-imising profit.

Corporate giants that increasingly dominate the sector were making strong profits from government subsidies.

“We know that the number of qualified nursing staff working full-time in aged care fell by 13 per cent from 2003 to 2016,” ANMF Federal Secretary, Annie Butler  said.

“Over the same period there has been a 400 per cent increase in preventable deaths in nursing homes.

“The chronic staffing crisis has led to dangerous workloads for nurses and carers resulting, too often, in missed care for vulnerable nursing home residents.

“The only way to guarantee safe staffing levels in aged care is to tie government funding to the provision of care. And the best way to achieve this is through mandated minimum staff ratios.”

Sign our aged care petition

The ANMF has launched a national petition calling for greater transparency and accountability in government funding of the for-profit aged care sector.

The online petition calls on all political parties to:

• Make for-profit aged care operators accountable for how they spend billions of dollars of taxpayer money;
• Ensure that government subsidies are invested in caring for our elderly rather than earning profits for shareholders.

To sign the petition go to : https://www.megaphone.org.au/petitions/aged-care-providers-are-putting-profits-before-their-responsibility-to-care