Aged care staff survey highlights need for action

A new survey of 1000 aged care staff has found that the majority of people who continue working in the sector — particularly residential care — do so because of their relationships with residents they care for and the residents’ families.

The survey by aged service consultants CompliSpace also highlights just how much pressure the workforce is under to continue to provide care and support to older Australians.

Key findings from the survey include:

• 45% of workers have lost half or more of their management team in the last 12 months. This includes 11% of workers who have lost their entire management team within the last year.
• 57% say new staffing targets are impossible to achieve and 39% say that they are difficult to achieve. Only 4% say they are easy to achieve.
• 50% intend to quit in the next three years.
• 78% include stress in their top three reasons for leaving.
• 89% ranked relationships with residents and families in their top three reasons for staying.
   

Tim Hicks, ACCPA General Manager of Policy and Advocacy, said the survey reinforces what ACCPA members are saying about the pressure the aged case system is under.

“We have recently taken some important steps forward with the passage of legislation on independent pricing and a clear commitment to fund pay increases, and the broader commitment to increase care minutes,” Hicks said.

“However, the estimated billion-dollar deficit in residential care funding for 2021–22, and the cost of managing the pandemic, is placing enormous pressure on staff at all levels.

“Finding workers to meet the new staffing targets to provide for the required 45% increase in minutes of care by a registered nurse is going to be impossible for many services.

“We need a plan for the immediate short term that recognises many providers will fall short of this target even if all reasonable steps are taken. We don’t want managers fearing that they will be punished because the staff they need just aren’t there.

“We must not back away from the need to recruit more staff, but we need a practical and realistic plan to get there that avoids adding the pressure that current staff are already facing.

“Any workforce plan for aged care also needs to address home care, where new clients are already being turned away because the providers cannot find enough staff.”

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