Central Coast aged care provider partners with ET Australia

As aged care providers continue to face workforce challenges and funding constraints, not-for-profit organisation Alino Living is taking a new approach to recruitment with a partnership with Employment and Training Australia (ET Australia).

Melinda De Luca, Executive Care Manager of Alino Living, said that the program, developed with ET Australia, aims to combat the growing aged care employee recruitment challenge, while also training up young people to consider a career in the industry.

“Given the impact of the pandemic on the workforce nationwide, the aged care industry continues to take a blow and suffer an issue of staff shortages with providers competing for staff from a small pool of candidates,” De Luca said.

“In partnership with local training organisation ET Australia, we have co-designed a program of aged care employment that is suitable for our organisation that identifies needs of our services and its participants.

“This program supports our recruitment process and will continue to feed our staffing pool year-round by offering a combination of theoretical training, work placement and traineeships for entry-level job vacancies,” she said.

ET Australia is a Central Coast-based registered training organisation that focuses on providing students with further study or traineeships so they are optimal candidates for employment. This program, created with Alino Living, includes three components including pre-traineeships, traineeships and an aged care readiness employment program.

“These types of programs have been running via training organisations for some time, but what makes this program unique is how it is tailored to the students and the needs of Alino Living, with the program completely customised,” said Cath Roden, ET Australia’s Training College Manager.

“The program provides six weeks of onboarding to the service and aged care, meaning students are supported as they are integrated into their roles.

They undertake one full day of training per week with ET Australia, one day with Alino Living’s Clinical Nurse Educator to provide organisation orientation and practical skill sets, and one day a week with a buddy on the floor of the specific residential aged care facility.

“Beyond the six-week orientation program students then complete another three weeks of intensive buddying with a supportive work partner. This will ensure the students are confident and capable to provide the level of care, customer focus and clinical excellence Alino Living and its residents expect as part of their service delivery,” Roden said.

The collaboration between ET Australia and Alino living ensures new entrants to the industry are well supported between the two organisations and this new partnership is already proving valuable.

“To date using this model we have experienced a very high retention rate of students. Alino Living has committed to above trainee award wages as we understand the cost of living increases our community is currently experiencing.

“We currently have seven traineeships running and 13 students in the Employment Program. We will hopefully be onboarding three intakes a year,” De Luca said.

Alino Living is the collaboration of three aged care organisations — Central Coast Community Care Association, Adelene and Vietnam Veterans Keith Payne VC Hostel — that merged in 2021 with an aim to build a better future for aged care.

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