In a surprise move, the Commissioners and their staff commissioned Australian Health Services Research Institute (AHSRI) at the University of Wollongong to check staffing levels in Australian aged care homes, without informing the sector.
This is against a backdrop of claims and counterclaims by the Australian Nurses and Midwives Association demanding mandated staff ratios on the one hand, including a registered nurse on the floor 24/7 and the private and not-for-profit operators on the other hand, who have steadfastly disagreed with this policy, claiming staffing levels need to be flexible to the needs of residents and their complexities, up or down.
57.6% of Australian aged care residents in homes rated unacceptable under US standards: Royal Commission releases first research paper
The paper, titled ‘How Australian residential aged care staffing levels compare with international and national benchmarks’, looked at staffing benchmarks used in the United States, British Columbia in Canada, Germany, Victoria and Queensland and determined the US has the best system for evaluating staffing levels, based on the amount of nurse and personal carer time per resident, adjusted to the residents’ needs.
Australian aged care facilities only provide an average of 180 minutes (three hours) of staff time per resident per day – lower than the 186 minutes required to achieve a one-star rating under the US aged care home rating system.
Its findings conclude over 50% of Australia’s 180,000 aged care residents are in homes with staffing levels that would be rated one or two stars (unacceptable levels of staffing) under the United States’ five-star rating system.
The report also found that just 27% of residents are in three-star homes (rated acceptable), 14.1% receive four stars (ranked good) and just 1.3% are in five-star homes (representing best practice).
“Raising the standard so that all Australian aged care homes are rated at least three stars would require an average increase of 37.3 per cent in total care staffing in the homes currently rated one or two stars. This would require an increase of 20 per cent in total residential aged care staffing across Australia”.
“Allied health staff (including physiotherapists) are not counted in the US system but are part of standards set in British Columbia, Canada. The report found only two per cent of Australian aged care residents are in homes that would meet British Columbian allied health staffing standards”.
Yesterday, at the Royal Commission hearing, Professor Eagar concluded facilities should be providing a minimum of 215 minutes (three hours and 35 minutes) of total staff time and 30 minutes of Registered Nurse time per resident per day.
You can download the research paper HERE.
