Mayo MP in bid to publicise aged care staffing numbers

Mayo MP Rebekha Sharkie will push to make aged care facility’s staffing numbers publicly available when politicians return to Canberra next month.

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Staffing ratios in aged care facilities being made public will be at the heart of Centre Alliance MP Rebekha Sharkie’s efforts when federal parliament returns next month.

Ms Sharkie’s push comes on the eve of the aged care royal commission beginning in Adelaide, declared “ground zero” in Australia’s nursing home crisis after the Oakden scandal.

Improving transparency in aged care by mandating the publication of staff-to-resident ratios by job description on the Federal Government’s My Aged Care website was introduced to parliament by Ms Sharkie, pictured, last year.

Centre Alliance member for Mayo Rebekha Sharkie. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

The Mayo MP said the private member’s Bill had received the support of a majority Liberal committee but she needed to push “very hard” for it to progress, so families moving loved ones into residential care can make more informed choices about the facilities they consider.

“We need to get the minister Ken Wyatt to take that to the next step,” Ms Sharkie said.

“I don’t care how it happens it just needs to happen.”

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety will hold a preliminary hearing next Friday in Adelaide to map out the framework of its inquiry.

Its terms of reference include the quality and safety of care, how to best deliver care to people with disabilities residing in aged care facilities, including younger people, and the increasing number of people with dementia.

Mr Wyatt stopped short of saying the Federal Government would back Ms Sharkie’s push to mandate that staffing ratios be made public.

But he did say the Government welcomed the committee’s report on the Bill and was carefully considering its response.

“Our Government has a strong record of improving aged care transparency and we are committed to further work in this area, including the establishment of an online aged care provider comparison system,” he said.

Originally published as Mayo MP in bid to publicise aged care staffing numbers