Not For Profit BlueCare, which is owned by UnitingCare Queensland, has revealed it is reducing the number of ENs it employs in its aged care home to better align with the Government's mandatory care minute targets.
A BlueCare spokesperson said, "Under the Government’s current aged care funding model, only 10% of mandated nursing care minutes can be delivered by ENs. The remaining 90% must be delivered by Registered Nurses.
"Maintaining roles that are not funded under the current [care minutes] model is no longer sustainable. This is not a BlueCare decision; it is how the funding is structured."
The provider's comments come after the Queensland Nurses and Midwives' Union (QNMU) slammed the redundancies as "dangerous", urging families to visit BlueCare aged care residents to "check their wellbeing".
BlueCare, which operates 21 aged care homes across Queensland and South East Queensland, acknowledged the union's concerns, saying "these changes have not been made lightly".
ENs being redeployed
BlueCare is now working with the ENs to find opportunities for redeployment within their residential aged care network, or across the BlueCare and UnitingCare Queensland more broadly.
While the numbers that will be made redundant are still unknown, the operator said the final number is likely to be significantly lower than the 84, or 60% of ENs, reported by the QNMU.
The redundancies follow BlueCare's slashing of more than 100 jobs earlier this year, which didn't include any frontline staff. Early last year, UnitingCare Queensland also laid off about 2% of its workforce, about 340 employees, including BlueCare workers, due to "proposed structural changes".
In May this year, Not For Profit Respect, which specialises in acquiring rural and regional homes, acquired seven BlueCare aged care homes from UnitingCare Queensland.
