The government's planned aged care reforms are expected to reduce waiting times for those seeking at-home care, but there are fears the system will be unable to meet demand. While the pressure of an ageing population is felt across the country, advocates say there needs to be more investment in the workforce to improve services.
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00:00There's certainly been a lot of work done and put into this Aged Care Act, but what
00:08has always worried advocacy groups, and I think they're all as one with this, is that
00:14perhaps we're putting the cart before the horse a little bit because we have never attempted
00:20to keep up with the number of workers that will be required. And particularly with community
00:27care, there's some pretty horrific stories. A number of years ago, particularly in Victoria
00:33when many municipalities ceased providing aged care services, that a thousand clients
00:41for instance in the Mornington Peninsula, and there are many articles in the Daily Press
00:45on this, were just left without care. Some of them, and they would have tried to rate
00:52them as far as need, but they were left with up to six months when they were getting no
00:58services whatsoever.
01:00And did you hear much of a mention at all about workforce in yesterday's announcement?
01:05Look, certainly the Minister in her statement, I think it was after the second reading to
01:11Parliament, has certainly made a mention of workforce, so I think they are aware. But
01:18there have been issues all along, because particularly with just the carer workforce,
01:25there is absolutely no mandated skill level, for instance. And the issues have been that
01:33the attrition rate, if you look at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the various
01:38reports that are out, we are losing staff faster than they're able to recruit them,
01:44conduct them, and train them.
01:46Look, I really think there needs to be a big, I think, rethink about how we recruit people.
01:55Many of our workers in aged care, whether it be in residential care or in the community,
02:02some of them are, or many of them are, up to 58% I believe, is something I read, are
02:08migrants. They have English as a second language, which is an advantage when you're dealing
02:13with cold communities, but really have not a lot of concept of the kind of clients they
02:23are dealing with, even cleaning, infection control when people are ill, food service,
02:30that kind of thing. There is not a great deal of training. The providers, to give them credit,
02:37try and provide training. Many of them have smartphones and they have resources. But from
02:46the anecdotal stories that we hear from people that contact aged care justice and contact aged
02:52care reform, the services can be not suited to what's required.