Tasmania has the fastest-growing ageing population in the country; by 2019, one in four Tasmanians will be over 65. As a result, the states aged care sector is in crisis at June 30 this year, 526 Tasmanians were waiting for residential aged care, 103 of them in hospital beds. Aged and Community Services Tasmania chief executive Darren Matthewson this week said the industrys inability to meet nursing requirements was having dire effects: Staff shortages are the single biggest challenge that our industry faces. We don't have the capacity for competitive wages like other industries.'' He claimed for at least 12 years aged care funding had failed to keep up with health inflation. TAFE Tasmania Aged Care and Enrolled Nursing team leader Christy Hunt said this year TAFE produced 100 Certificate Three aged-care workers and 75 enrolled nurses, but it failed to meet demand.
Government Policy
The three aged care bombshells from Senate Estimates
Last week’s Senate Estimates hearing – held just three weeks before sweeping reforms roll out – gave politicians the chance to ask Government heavyweights the questions they’re getting from constituents and to interrogate the once-in-a-generation changes.
