The ANMF wants greater oversight on care-minute reporting with providers accused of reclassifying or firing lifestyle staff to meet minimum standards.
The Australian Nursing and Midwives Federation has called out aged care providers for reclassifying lifestyle staff as personal care assistants in an effort to meet requirements for mandated care minutes.
ANMF federal secretary Annie Butler said the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission needed to take greater action to uphold accountability in care-minute reporting following reports that some providers had fired lifestyle staff or redesignated them as personal care assistants, in order to meet standards for a sectorwide average of 200 minutes of direct care per person per day.
“The short-sighted move by some aged care providers to shift them to PCAs to fulfil mandated care-minute targets goes against the intention of the funding provided and ignores the holistic care vulnerable residents need and deserve,” Ms Butler said.
“To address this issue, the regulator (the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission), must keep aged care providers accountable by ensuring they meet mandated care minutes as intended, instead of taking away essential elements of care to tick other boxes.
“We call upon aged care providers to use additional taxpayer funding provided to the sector as it was intended, on direct, daily care.
“The Minister for Aged Care, Anika Wells, has listened to the ANMF’s concerns about the need for safe, quality care, and we urge her to continue to progress the implementation of critical aged care reforms that will lead to better standards and health outcomes.”
Current care minutes responsibility is based on a sectorwide average of 200 minutes of care per resident per day, including 40 minutes of direct RN care.
From 1 October, the care minutes responsibility will increase to a sector-wide average of 215 care minutes per resident per day, including 44 minutes of direct RN care, but providers will have the flexibility to meet up to 10% of service-level RN targets with care time provided by ENs.