Federal Budget: A ‘missed opportunity’ to support aged care
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) has called the Federal Budget a missed opportunity to provide safe, quality care for older Australians and says it fails to support nurses and carers who work in the sector. The $21.6 billion for the aged care sector provides a patchwork of fragmented solutions but does not address […]
ANMF takes the stand at Royal Commission
Implementing mandated minimum staffing levels and skills mix in aged care is not the sole indicator of a quality system yet one undoubtedly cannot be achieved without taking the action. That was the key message from Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) Federal Secretary Annie Butler as she took the stand at the Royal Commission […]
ANMF Priorities 2019
In 2019, the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) will lead the way on a wide range of issues facing nursing, midwifery and the broader community. An impending federal election will see the ANMF ramp up pressure on federal politicians to legislate minimum staffing ratios in aged care through its national public awareness campaign – […]
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 […]