Coker warns of mass exodus from aged care

CORANGAMITE MP Libby Coker has warned of a looming mass exodus of aged care workers if Labor doesn’t win government.

Ms Coker made the claims last week in the presence of four local workers from the sector after signing a pledge to implement four key recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aged Care should her party take power on May 21.

The as yet implemented recommendations include guaranteed carer to resident ratios, a 24-hour on site registered nurse, improved wages and conditions and greater transparency of government funding tied to care.

“Workers locally are saying to me that if we don’t see a change of government, and a Labor government that have committed to better wages and conditions … there’s going to be a mass exodus and none of us want to see that,” Ms Coker said.

“There is such pressure on them, and people know that they can earn more stacking shelves in the supermarket, so they’re not entering the profession.”

The final report from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety stated that “the Australian aged care system has been under prolonged stress and has reached crisis point”.

“The tragic impact of COVID-19 pandemic highlighted weaknesses and shortcomings in the system, especially the reactive nature of its governance,” the Commission said.

After 45 years working in the sector, local carer Melva lamented the state of her industry, particularly staff shortages and a lack of on-call nurses.

“I’ve been in aged care for a very long time and have watched it disintegrate … I had a colleague take a resident heart attack and management didn’t take the call.”

Melva said higher wages and better training and education was needed to attract more carers and staff.

Her colleague, Donna, said she and others were being asked to do more work with less staff and routinely found themselves unable to provide appropriate levels of care as a result.

“We struggle to cut their fingernails … we’ve got people waiting hours to go to the toilet.”

Donna said it’s not unusual to ask that if a resident is wearing a nappy then they should soil themselves because two staff members are needed to hoist them on to a toilet and a second carer is not available.

“We’re really exhausted, we’re getting injured,” she said. “It’s like a factory now, just processing people.”

The result, Donna said, is that the industry is struggling to retain quality staff.

Jason, a former aged carer now working in mental health, similarly described his time in the sector as being on a “conveyor belt”.

“At my facility you were lucky to get a shower every second day.

“If the average Aussie worked a week in aged care they’d be out in the streets calling for reform.”

Libby Coker said her 86-year-old mother, a former nurse, told her “don’t put me in one of those facilities”.

“There shouldn’t be a fear of going into aged care homes,” Donna said.

“Families feel guilty for putting family in aged care, they shouldn’t.”