Aged Care Insite Australia's number one aged care news source
As the short-staffed aged care sector braces itself for the impending Covid peak, the government has released new measures to guide providers on handling outbreaks in residential homes.
The 'winter plan' comes in response to providers' claims that the government "was never prepared enough and didn't do enough forward thinking".
"There's no one magic bullet that's going to help everybody get through this unscathed," the Minister of Aged Care and Sport, Anika Wells, says.
In response to Covid's destructive impact on the sector last year, Wells aims to be more proactive by launching the winter plan and ensuring sufficient stock of RAT kits and PPE gear is available.
Providers have claimed the expiry of the ADF program in August, which has been covering aged care's significant workforce shortage, is poorly timed as the Omicron wave is anticipated to peak by the end of July.
"We need big, systematic reform to address this issue, which is why I'm committed to increase care minutes, 24/7 nurses and an aged care worker's pay rise," Wells says.
"My focus is on trying to fix this winter, but also to do what we need to to ensure this isn't a problem again next winter."
Tune in to Aged Care Insite's conversation with Minister Anika Wells on the winter plan, addressing workforce shortages and the aged care budget.
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