Friday, March 31, 2017

ANMF supporting petition against low staffing in nursing homes

Thursday 30th March, 2017

The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation (ANMF) is supporting a public campaign highlighting how dangerously inadequate staffing levels are resulting in a lack of care for nursing home residents.

As featured on The Project last night, Heather Mansell Brown has launched a Change.org petition after her husband Bill Brown suffered avoidable injuries whilst in a Queensland nursing home, which she says were due to staffing levels.

The petition has attracted more than 33,000 signatures to date.

ANMF Federal Secretary Lee Thomas said the plight of Mr Brown once again reinforced how chronic understaffing in some nursing homes around the country failed to ensure that residents were receiving quality aged care.

  • “Sadly, stories like these are all-too frequent. Our members working in aged care are recounting how vulnerable residents, many with dementia and other high-care needs, are suffering,” Ms Thomas said today.
  • “Last year the ANMF released its National Aged Care Staffing and Skills Mix Project which showed that nursing home residents should receive an average of over 4 hours a day care, compared to the current 2.84 hours.
  • “A skills mix of Registered Nurses (RN) 30%, Enrolled Nurses (EN) 20% and Personal Care Worker (PCA) 50% is the minimum skills mix needed in nursing homes.
  • “The ANMF is supporting this petition which demands that a Registered Nurse (RN) is working on-site at a nursing home 24/7. There must also be regulation of all AINs/personal care workers who assist in the delivery nursing care and nursing services.”

The ANMF, with over 259,000 members, is the industrial and professional voice for nurses, midwives and assistants in nursing in Australia. 

No comments: