A NSWNMA delegation to Canberra tells politicians that ratios must replace the care minutes system of staffing, which providers are abusing.

Members of the NSWNMA who work in aged care have met government ministers and MPs at Parliament House in Canberra to push for mandatory staffing ratios in nursing homes.

Our members joined with aged care workers from other states to launch a national campaign for ratios, measures to reduce violence and aggression, and public reporting of providers’ use of government funding.

NSWNMA nurses and care workers met  Aged Care Minister Sam Rae, Immigration Minister Tony Burke, Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite, MP for Gilmore Fiona Phillips and MP for Macquarie Susan Templeman.

NSWNMA General Secretary Michael Whaites said members gave ministers a frontline perspective on the substandard care that residents still receive and how providers are misusing public money.

He said the national campaign aims to fix problems that continue, despite historic changes flowing from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which reported in 2021.

“The aged care sector has seen some improvement in recent years, but it is far from being fixed,” Michael said.

“In the face of care minutes not being complied with, we need ratios to deliver better staffing and skill mix, safer workplaces to prevent workplace violence, and greater transparency of taxpayer funding.

“These are all practical reforms that can help to build an aged care sector that works now and into the future.”

The campaign called ‘Australia needs care you can count on’ was launched by the NSWNMA’s national body, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), in September.

A survey of aged care workers by the ANMF shows that the sector still suffers from widespread understaffing, increased workplace violence, cost-cutting and a lack of transparency for billions of taxpayer dollars (see survey report page 10).

The campaign calls for:

• Mandatory staffing ratios and skills mix across all shifts to replace the current care minutes system
• Adoption of a 10-point plan to better protect nurses and care workers from physical, verbal and emotional violence
• Public reporting of providers’ financial performance and use of $25 billion in public funding.