Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler is planning to introduce aged care reforms to Parliament as soon as next month – including Labor’s pre-election promise for around-the-clock registered nurses in every residential aged care facility by July 2023.
Speaking to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, Mr Butler said he plans to introduce the bill as soon as Parliament opens in July, including a new funding model for aged care with a requirement of 200 daily care minutes on average per resident per day by July next year – this includes 40 daily minutes with a registered nurse – as well as on-site nurses for both morning and afternoon shifts plus night shift from July 2023; and an increase to 215 daily care minutes from July 2024.
Also on the table is a push to increase the number of aged care nurses working in Australia, with the Minister acknowledging that migration will “have to play a role” but adding that part-time aged care nurses who may pick up extra hours should be included in modelling.
“I don’t buy the argument from the former government that the difference between 16 hours a day and 24 hours a day will have to be filled by vast numbers of nurses brought in from overseas,” he told the Nine papers.
Modelling provided to the previous Government said 14,000 more nurses would be required to fulfil a requirement of just 16 hours per day, let alone 24, by October 2023 – so here’s hoping the new Government can pull it off.
