Without adequately paid and well supported aged care staff, 93-year-old Hazel Garnett said she is worried about a drop in the quality of her care.
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The Marco Polo Aged Care Services resident said that while she is still ambulant, she feared for what might happen when she is no longer able to complete daily tasks.
"I make my own bed, a lot of people can't make their bed and get their sheets changed," she said. "You need that, and if you're not ambulatory, you can't do it."
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On Thursday, Ms Garnett was joined by other aged care residents, provider CEOs and staff to call for improved wages for nurses and care staff, better hours and comprehensive training support.
"Nursing homes operate 24 hours a day, and you must have a trained nurse on duty every day," Ms Garnett said.
Currently, aged care staff are some of the lowest paid workers in Australia, and Warrigal CEO Mark Sewell said that despite providing similar levels of care, staff in aged care were woefully underpaid compared to similar occupations in health and disability care.
Mr Sewell said that while a person in hospital would receive between $1200-$1300 a day of government assistance, when that person returned to an aged care home the government funding would drop to $350 a day.
"It's just not fair, and it has to stop," he said.
The underpayment is compounding a workforce shortage in the sector, which Eleise Hale, CEO of Marco Polo Aged Care Services, said is further driving staff from the sector, with a staff turnover rate of up to 20 per cent, even prior to the pandemic.
"We need to keep our staff," she said. "What they did under COVID is simply amazing."
Mr Sewell said while it was "extraordinary" that aged care was on the agenda in the 2022 election, the sector was in crisis now, and any delay in action would leave the sector vulnerable, with 200 beds already lost in the Illawarra.
"Everyone is aware of it, we hear the leaders talking about it and all the polling shows it's a major issue, but they still won't make the commitment," he said. "The Labor Party has made a commitment to fund the Fair Work Commission outcomes, but they're going to be later a year or two away. That's not good enough.
"Both sides should make a commitment right now to an increase in the wages pending any later decision by the Fair Work Commission."
Ms Garnett said she sees the impact of low wages first hand.
"I see suffering that is not necessary, because the people are so poorly paid that we cannot get the staff to cover the requirements of the job."
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