Champion to aged care nurses

By Janaki Chellam

“I feel really at home with my residents,” says Clarisa Bhariri, an aged-care nurse who has worked in the sector for over three years.

“You see them everyday, you share your day with them and become friends. They’re like family to me,” says Ms Bhariri.

The work satisfaction offered by aged care is enormous explains Brett Holmes, General Secretary of the NSW Nurses’ Association.

 “Nurses share a much closer professional relationship with patients/residents,” he says. “You get to know them and are much more involved in their long-term progress than a nurse in an acute care setting.”

Aged-care nurses don’t have a medical officer available 24 hours a day so must hone their observational, assessment and predictive skills. Mr Holmes says this also provides aged care nurses with greater decision making autonomy.

In addition, the work environment moves at a slower pace than an acute care setting.  “The advantage for new nurses is learning the job at a slower pace because they deal with the same patients every day,” says Ms Bhariri.

The aged care sector is one of Australia’s fastest growing employment sectors. The NSW Nurses Association calculates that an additional 90,000 people in Australia will be living in aged care in a decade.

“Australia’s ageing population is like a tsunami beyond the horizon – while we can’t see it yet, we know it’s coming,” is how Institute of Actuaries president Bozenna Hinton described the growing population aged 65 and over.

To cope with the growing care needs of a rapidly expanding aging population takes trained professionals such as Ms Bhariri and many more like her.

Between 2003 and 2007  the number of nurses in aged care declined by 4,000 while the number of residents increased by 15,000 during the same period.

The NSW Nurses Association and the Australia Nurses Federation are campaigning to ensure the passion and dedication of both experienced and new nurses are recognised and fairly renumerated.

In recent months nurses and aged care residents travelled to Canberra to meet with Federal MPs and Senators to lobby for more funds for aged care and it appears the campaign has worked.

The unions have welcomed the $533 million to be spent on aged care over five years announced in the Federal Budget on May 11.

Federal Secretary of the Australian Nursing Federation Ged Kearney described the Budget as a “huge win for aged care nurses, care staff and the residents they care for.”

“The $132 million aged care workforce package announced by the Treasurer in Budget 2010 ensures nurses will remain front and centre in the delivery of aged care in Australia,’ she said.

Ms Kearney said the $60 million education incentive for aged care nurses will “lead to thousands of nurses, assistants in nursing (AINs) and personal care workers upgrading their skills” thus retaining skilled people while delivering high quality care.

“The introduction of a national licensing system for AINs and personal care workers will recognise their professionalism while ensuring high standards of care, safety and protection for residents.

“Almost $19 million has been allocated for 25 nurse practitioners to work across 100 nursing homes. This will further the career pathway for nurses in aged care and greatly benefit residents in those homes.

“Both of these initiatives when linked with the 900 new nursing scholarships will dramatically improve the career options for aged care nurses and staff.

She says the Because We Care campaign waged by nursing unions for greater recognition of aged care nurses and care staff has now led to the Federal Government taking “some important first steps” but there is more work to do.

“A critical focus for our campaign is the introduction of minimum staffing levels in aged care. The government has given that a huge boost with a commitment to undertake the detailed research that can inform the introduction of this long overdue reform.

“You can’t fix the problems in aged care overnight but this budget is a great start,” Ms Kearney said.

Last month the ANF and NSW Nurses’ Association launched a landmark class action lawsuit to protect the wages of thousands of aged-care workers amid fears that aged-care nurses could potentially earn lower salaries under new Fair Work rules introduced by the Rudd Government.

The Fair Work Act will make the minimum wage uniform across the country over a four-year transition period starting on July 1. For nurses in NSW and Queensland that could have meant a 20 per cent pay cut in wages.

The federal Government has since announced that unions can apply to the Australian Fair Pay Commission for an order to maintain employees’ net pay at existing levels. This is the first time a union has initiated a net pay order application on behalf of a large number of workers.

“If the suit is successful, it would be a protection against any employer who might decide to apply the new Federal nurses’ award of 2010 which would reduce the net pay of many of our members,” explained Brett Holmes of the NSW Nurses’ Association.

CareerOne.com.au, May 17, 2010.