Just one in 10 nursing homes meeting care time rules

The government’s new requirements on 24/7 nursing and minimum minutes of care will be a reality within months. At the moment more than nine in 10 homes are falling short, a new study finds.

New data from the Department of Health and Aged Care has revealed more than 500 nursing homes are owed more than $570m in funding for Covid-19 support grants from the federal government.

Fewer than 10 per cent of Australia’s nursing homes have enough care workers to meet the new government-mandated staffing requirements coming into effect in July, aged-care analysis finds.

The new University of Technology Sydney (UTS) study finds workforce shortfalls in aged care threaten the requirement for new minimum minutes of direct care per resident, minimum nursing care minutes and availability of 24/7 nurses, the last starting in just over a month.

New data from the Department of Health and Aged Care has revealed more than 500 nursing homes are owed more than $570m in funding for Covid-19 support grants from the federal government, with one aged-care provider awaiting more than $33m still to be processed.

The UTS Ageing Research Collaboration report calculates an additional 12,520 full-time-equivalent direct care workers, including more than 5900 registered nurses, will be needed for nursing homes to meet the new minimum standards.

The study, Australia’s Aged Care Sector: Mid-Year Report 2022–23, paints a grim picture of the financial sustainability of aged care as at December, adding its weight to the consideration of more consumer co-contributions to the cost of care, one of the matters under consideration by the government’s new Aged Care Sustainability Taskforce.

“The sector’s long-term sustainability has reached a critical point,” it says, noting two in three nursing home providers are operating at a loss …Older people on average pay up to 10 per cent of the cost of their direct care (with) taxpayers providing the vast majority of funding,” it says. “There is widespread support for rebalancing the contributions so that those with the financial capacity to pay make fair contributions to the cost of the services they receive.”

The report finds new aged-care funding in the May budget, including an additional $11.3bn over the forward estimates for 15 per cent wage increases, “are expected to cover homes’ care-related costs … but only if there’s no further deterioration of workforce availability”.

“To meet these standards will require an estimated 12,520 additional full- time equivalent direct care workers, including 5,911 registered nurses.”

Under the new arrangements, the nation’s 2700 nursing homes must have a nurse on duty 24/7 July 1. From October 1, homes must provide 200 minutes of direct care per day for each resident, including 40 minutes of nursing care.

The new staffing requirements have been blamed for recent nursing home closures, but Aged Care Minister Anika Wells has said no homes will be closed solely on the basis of staff shortages, and struggling providers should be in communication with the regulator to work out arrangements.