Staff ratios emerge as key issue as Royal Commission into Aged Care begins
More than half of the 300 public submissions already received by the Royal Commission into Aged Care have raised concerns about substandard or unsafe care and staffing issues, including staff ratios, evidence at the opening hearing of the inquiry into Australia’s aged care system has revealed. About 81% of the public submissions detailed concerns over […]
The technology seeking to transform aged care
Groundbreaking flexible sensors fitted into the beds of aged care residents able to detect if they are in bed or not, breathing and track heart rate during the night could become the norm across the sector in years to come. The innovative research project got underway at RMIT University in Melbourne earlier this year thanks […]
Open letter calls on PM to legislate aged care ratios
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF), together with the Australian Medical Association (AMA), The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and Australian and New Zealand Society for Geriatric Medicine (ANZSGM), has published an open letter in today’s edition of The Australian newspaper calling on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to guarantee the nation’s elderly […]
Inquiry backs aged care tax transparency
The Senate Economics Reference Committee investigating the financial and tax practices of Australia’s for-profit aged care providers has called for a range of measures it believes can improve transparency and accountability across the sector. The Inquiry launched in May following an explosive report by the Tax Justice Network Australia, commissioned by the Australian Nursing and […]
Supporting graduate nurses in aged care
When her father developed dementia in his mid-to-late 50s Dawn Ogden wanted to do everything in her power to help. It led her to a career in aged care and she never looked back. She began as a carer, progressed to an enrolled nurse, and recently qualified as a Registered Nurse before securing a graduate […]
Your rights during the aged care Royal Commission
In September, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the federal government would establish a Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety to examine the crisis facing the sector. It officially began in October when Governor-General Peter Cosgrove released a document titled ‘Letters Patent’, which formally appointed the Royal Commissioners and outlined the Commission’s terms of […]
A snapshot of Australians living in residential aged care
Over half of the 187,300 Australians living in residential aged care during 2015 had at least five to eight long-term health conditions and nearly half had dementia, according to new data released from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The statistics are among a range of findings to emerge from the ABS’ 2015 Survey of […]
Pain management for people with dementia
The purpose of this article is to shed some light on the importance of pain management, to examine major barriers and make some recommendations to improve the pain management in older generations with dementia. Pain management in older adults with dementia is paramount. The impact of pain on physical, psychological, social and spiritual components is […]
Four Corners investigation uncovers a sector in crisis
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) says last night’s opening of a two-part investigation by the ABC’s Four Corners program into the treatment of the elderly in aged care homes shone the spotlight on a sector in crisis and a section of the Australian community that has been abandoned. “For years, our members have […]
Staffing is key to ending suffering in nursing homes
A Royal Commission into aged care that will investigate negligence, inadequate care and abuse will do little to fix the crisis plaguing the sector unless the government takes action to introduce mandated staffing ratios across the country’s nursing homes, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has argued. “Every day that the government fails to […]