Registered nurses not needed 24/7

AGED care facilities can do without the 24-hour presence of a registered nurse claims the manager of a Grafton facility.

AGED care facilities can do without the 24-hour presence of a registered nurse claims the manager of a Grafton facility.

The argument about having registered nurses permanently on duty is the subject of a NSW Government inquiry which is accepting submissions until Thursday.

Phil Belletty, the CEO of Clarence Village, a not-for-profit aged care facility in Grafton, said his organisation would be making a submission to the inquiry next week.

"I can't speak for the board, but there are some issues about how we can get an RN (registered nurse) here all the time anyway," he said.

"For a start we would have to find three RNs to take on the role and I don't think they're available," he said.

"I know we've advertised a number of times for RNs and we can't get any to apply with the right level of expertise."

He said the cost of the extra nurses would also hurt.

"Having that set-up would be a massive impost on the budget and our funding model doesn't cover that," he said.

"If we have to go that way we will have to prioritise other services unless the government comes up with a package that can make it work."

He said bigger aged care providers already had a registered nurse on duty 24/7, but for smaller providers it was more difficult.

"The smaller providers don't have the amount of high care needs big operations have," he said.

Mr Belletty said his operation had registered nurses working daily and said there did not seem to be a need to extend that coverage.

"They're able to deal with most of the issues confronting us and failing that, care managers can step in," he said.

Mr Belletty said there was also a lack of understanding of the nature of care in aged care centres such as Clarence Village.

"We take a holistic approach to our clients' health so we don't get so many of the extreme situations which occur with older people," he said.

"We make sure people are housed well, have regular meals, take their medication and have plenty of health activities to enjoy.

"Often the families of people who come here tell us their mum or dad is so much better than they were before."

Mr Belletty agreed full time RNs could reduce the number of clients requiring hospitalisation, but this did not help the aged care facility's bottom line.

Originally published as Registered nurses not needed 24/7