Closed: 23 February 2018
Background
In November 2017 the Government announced the establishment of an Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce (the Taskforce), which is developing an Aged Care Workforce Strategy (the Strategy).
The Taskforce will reference the June 2017 report of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee inquiry into the future of the aged care sector workforce, to which the RACGP provided a submission. It will also reference the workforce-related observations in the government commissioned Legislated Review of Aged Care 2017 and the Review of National Aged Care Quality Regulatory Processes.
To find out more about the Taskforce, and their Strategic Imperatives, visit Ageing and Aged care on the Department of Health website.
Consultation
The Taskforce is now requesting feedback via survey to inform development of the Strategy. The RACGP is seeking your feedback on the questions provided by the Taskforce. Please submit your feedback to advocacy@racgp.org.au by Wednesday 21 February 2018.
The Consultation survey raises the following key questions for your consideration. Preliminary RACGP responses, based on previous submissions and advocacy, have been provided for your information. However we’d like to be able to expand our responses and provide examples if possible.
1. What are potential future changes that aged care needs to be ready for? How can the workforce strategy contribute to meeting these future needs?
- Future aged care workforce planning must account for forecasted patient need and government policy encouraging patients to live in the community.
- Aged care workforce planning needs to account for the pivotal role of Residential Aged Care Facility (RACF) nursing staff in facilitating patient access to care from GPs and other members of the multidisciplinary team.
- Aged care workforce planning also needs to recognise that GPs are an integral part of the aged care workforce and plan for supporting GPs to continue to provide this care.
2. Tell us what you think is working well in the aged care workforce (across industry, at provider or service level or through place-based initiatives) and where future opportunities lie.
- The aged care access incentive (ACAI) PIP is a vital resource for supporting GPs to remain involved in the aged care sector. However, the ACAI will be removed as of 1 May 2018. Removal of this incentive will present an additional barrier to GPs providing care in this setting.
3. What areas of knowledge, skills and capability need to be strengthened within the aged care workforce?
- The vast majority of interns and junior doctors are not exposed to working in RACFs during their training. The RACGP has previously recommended opportunities for medical students and interns to provide aged care services through rotations and training placements. This would promote early exposure to, and interest in, the aged care field among younger doctors.
- Awareness of My Aged Care and the aged care system is low. This can reduce effectiveness when planning for aged care, whether by individuals, healthcare professionals and service providers.
- There is often a high turnover of staff in some RACFs, particularly nursing personnel, resulting in a dependence on locum staff. There is significant need for stable levels of nurses who are appropriately qualified and experienced in working with patients in RACFs.
- As people with dementia account for 52% of all residents of RACFs and its prevalence is increasing, improved training in caring for patients with dementia is needed for all staff across mainstream aged care facilities.
4. What is needed to improve and better equip the workforce to meet individual needs and expectations?
- There is inadequate support for GPs providing care to patients in RACFs. For example:
- Patient rebates for RACF care do not reflect the costs of providing the care.
- There are insufficient numbers of registered nurses with the capacity to provide a briefing to a GP on the patient and to carry out management or treatment plans.
- There is a heavy reliance on agency nursing staff, who have little time or reason to establish cooperative long-term relationships with patients and GPs.
- High staff turnover, with staff unfamiliar with patients and unable to provide information on patient condition.
- The GP workforce is underused in aged care and has limited patient reach.
- Access to broader supports from supplementary services can also be variable for GPs working in aged care in rural locations. They must therefore have a broad range of skills to meet their patients’ needs.
- There is a need to address poor service integration, including fragmentation in allied health services, where information flows are restricted.
- Expanded targeted incentives are needed for rural GPs, particularly at the community level (eg for in-home visits). Incentives would need to capture distance and travel time in rural areas as service provision is often dispersed across a region.
5. What are the key factors the Taskforce needs to consider to attract and retain staff?
- Remuneration
- Staffing ratios
- Education and training
- Skills development
- Career paths