The ANMF launches national aged care campaign

ANMF Federal Secretary Annie Butler The nurses' union is again campaigning for mandated staff ratios in aged care. The Australian Nursing & Midwifery Federation (ANMF), which has 356,000 members, will officially launch a national aged care campaign today calling for staff ratios to replace mandatory care minutes. Last month, the ANMF published its Pulse Check report, based on a survey of 3,552 participants. The survey found frontline aged care workers reported understaffing, workplace violence, cost-cutting affecting care and a lack of transparency around how Government funding is spent. Its recommendations included replacing care minutes with mandated staff ratios and 'de-privatising' aged care. The ANMF wants the proportion of residential aged care homes operated by For Profit providers reduced from 38% to 20% within a decade. The national campaign will focus on what the union describes as three 'critical areas': Mandated staffing ratios and skills mix to replace care minutes A 10-point plan to better protect nurses and care workers from physical, verbal and emotional violence from physical, verbal and emotional violence Public reporting of aged care providers' financial performance and use of public funding ANMF Federal Secretary Annie Butler said the union was acting on feedback from 'thousands' of members working in aged care who say 'systemic issues' continue to affect the quality of care in aged care homes. 'They've told us that aged care is not fixed,' she said. The ANMF says it wants 'real, enforceable change' that 'puts the care of older Australians ahead of providers' profits'. Ratios back on the agenda It is not the first time the ANMF has mounted a national campaign for mandated staff ratios. In 2018, the union ran national television advertising and mobile billboards in Canberra calling for minimum staffing ratios in residential aged care. The ANMF's mobile billboards in Canberra in 2018 The campaign also backed then-Senator Derryn Hinch's Aged Care Amendment (Ratio of Skilled Staff to Care Recipients) Bill 2017, which sought to mandate staffing ratios in aged care homes. Challenge on another front This new campaign follows legal action launched by the ANMF's NSW branch against Australia's largest aged care operator, Opal HealthCare, in August. The NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association alleges Opal HealthCare breached clause 58 of the Opal Healthcare (NSW) Enterprise Agreement 2023 by failing to meet care minute targets. Clause 58 states that quality care must take into account 'the mandated care minutes'. We reported in the most recent edition of SATURDAY, the 'real objective' of the unions' recent actions is the de-privatisation of aged care. Many in the sector will agree with Butler's assessment that 'aged care is not fixed'. There will be less agreement over the ANMF's prescription for fixing it.