The first teams of Australian Defence Force members, comprising nurses and general support staff, will support healthcare provider Aspen Medical in providing relief to aged care homes in Queensland and Victoria.
Up to 50 personnel will be deployed from yesterday after an announcement from Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Health and Aged Care Minister Greg Hunt on Monday, reported by The Weekly SOURCE. Aspen Medical, founded by Glenn Keys, already has filled 14,655 shifts, including clinical first responder deployments.
The ADF is ready to expand this commitment to up to 200 personnel in each state and territory, or up to 1,700 personnel if required.
The Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC), the Australian Council of Trade Unions, the Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation, Health Services Union, United Workers Union and Australian Workers Union called for the ADF to help the embattled sector on 19 January.
“We are very happy that the Prime Minister has brought in the ADF as it is an acknowledgement there was a crisis in the aged care sector all along,” said Paul Sadler, interim CEO of the peak body for Not For Profit aged care providers Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA).
“140,000 shifts in aged care were not being filled and an online national poll we conducted revealed there are staff shortages from 4% all the way to one operator stating he had a 30% staffing shortage. There are 30 aged care homes in the Hunter region of NSW with active outbreaks and it is clear there are problems in aged care homes in Queensland and Victoria,” he said.
“This is not over by a long way.”
