Page 1145 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 May 2006
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At this point I clearly state my support for aged care providers. For the most part, providers are highly dedicated organisations committed to the care of our elderly citizens. Most providers recognise that the community demands that the residents of aged care facilities are treated with the dignity and the respect that they deserve.
The Senate Community Affairs References Committee reported in 2002 that remuneration was a major reason for the attrition of nurses in the aged care sector. The 2005 report of that same committee also heard evidence from witnesses that the lack of wage parity is the major barrier to recruitment and retention of aged care nurses. Disparity of pay is a significant issue for nurses in the aged care sector.
In the February edition of the Australian Nursing Journal the Australian Nursing Federation stated that the disparity in pay between the aged care nurse, based on the federal award, and the ACT public sector nurse is almost $300 a week. It is not hard to see why enrolled and registered nurses are leaving the aged care sector in droves—$300 a week is a lot of money for working families to forgo. We cannot expect our aged care nurses to remain in what can be a very stressful workplace for $300 a week less than the ACT government nurses, particularly when the ACT government nurses do not necessarily face the same issues nurses face in the aged care sector.
I have written on a number of occasions to the former Minister for Ageing about this matter on behalf of a number of my constituents and I have to say that I am extremely disappointed that the federal government refuses to address this issue and to ensure that aged care nurses are adequately remunerated. I have also written to the current Minister for Ageing in relation to this matter. Whilst I am impressed with his current work to address elder abuse, I am not impressed with his lack of response on this particular issue. Surely anyone with any commonsense can see that these issues can be related. The federal government refuses to raise the award and until they do aged care nurses will not have the pay incentives to work in this area that, as I have said, can be quite stressful.
I am sure that aged care providers want nurses on their staff; I am sure that aged care providers want to pay their nurses appropriately; I am sure that aged care providers want to ensure that nurses have appropriate working conditions; and I am obviously sure that the residents of these aged care facilities want nurses to care for them. But aged care providers will simply not be in a position to pay their nurses appropriately until the federal government raises the award and injects the corresponding amount of funding into the sector to specifically meet the need for higher wages for aged care nurses.
It is time the federal government recognised that ACT residents of nursing homes are suffering because the sector cannot appropriately remunerate nurses. It is time the federal government recognised that ACT residents of nursing homes will have better health outcomes when nurses are recruited and retained in this sector. It is time the federal government recognised that, if they ensure aged care nurses are paid appropriately, this will improve the level of care in nursing homes and decrease the stress on our health systems at state, territory and federal level. One would hope that they would wish to see this. It is time the federal government recognised that ACT residents of nursing homes deserve to have access to the appropriate, sensitive and dignified care that we as a community expect.
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