US government has created new rules for minimum staffing in aged care homes, but many experts say they are inadequate.

The country’s 15,000 nursing homes will be required to have 3.48 hours of staffing per resident per day, of which

0.55 must comprise registered nurses and 2.45 must be nurse aides, reported Nursing Times.

A White House briefing explained this would mean a setting with 100 residents would need a minimum of two to three registered nurses, 10 to 11 nurse aides and two additional nursing staff, who could be registered or non-registered.

In addition, the new law would require a setting to always have a registered nurse on site, including at night and over the weekend.

Providers will be given up to three years to implement the new rules.

The increased staffing was first promised by Joe Biden in 2022, after more than 200,000 aged care residents died of COVID-19 in just two years, and after staffing levels had plummeted in the wake of the pandemic.

Richard Mollot, head of the Long Term Care Community Coalition, said the minimum staffing levels were “completely inadequate”, and a missed “once-in-a- generation opportunity”.

“It is a tremendous dereliction of duty. We are continuing to allow nursing homes to warehouse people and to rip off the public,” he said.