A July 1 deadline requiring all aged care homes to have a Registered Nurse on-site 24 hours a day seven days a week has Nursing Homes across Central Western and Far West NSW under immense pressure. 

With an already-critical shortage of available nurses, beds are closed in some of our region's facilities and local elderly residents are being forced to moved away from their family to seek accommodation, causing distress to both patients and families. 

Despite actual beds being available in the centres, the crippling lack of nursing staff means they will remain empty until a solution can be found.

Now there are fears that facilities will face closure if the new government enforces this policy. 

Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton is calling on the Labor Government to immediately address whether they will require struggling aged care homes to meet rigid staffing requirements by July or risk closure.  

The Labor Government announced an Aged Care Reform as part of its 2022 election commitments off the back of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, which included a requirement that all aged care homes must have a Registered Nurse on-site 24 hours a day 7 days a week from 1 July 2023. 

For an aged care sector already struggling with workforce shortages, Mr Coulton believes this announcement could see facilities face closure or financial penalties if they cannot meet the requirements by the set deadline. 

ABOVE: Mark Coulton MP 

“The Government has caused serious distress and uncertainty for aged care providers, the older Australians they care for and their families by bringing forward the Royal Commission’s timeline and imposing these rigid requirements,” Mr. Coulton said. 

“The Coalition supports older Australians receiving the best possible care, however imposing unrealistic requirements on aged care homes who are already suffering severe staffing shortages has only added to the pressures they face.  

“This week Aged Care Minister Anika Wells acknowledged that the Government’s legislated policy is not deliverable due to the impacts of the workforce crisis, however vulnerable aged care homes remain in a state of uncertainty about what will happen to them if they cannot meet the current or any future deadlines imposed. 

“Minister Wells has admitted that it is nursing homes in rural and remote areas who are most at risk of not being able to meet the July deadline. Much of the Parkes electorate fits this category; any closure of aged care homes in these areas has a serious and severe impact. It directly affects the ability of older people in rural towns to stay in the places where they have lived, worked and built connections over many years.  

“I have had many older Australians and their families contact me because they have difficulty accessing aged care in their own towns. I have had aged care providers reach out because they are struggling to provide a service to their communities.  

ABOVE: Anika Wells Aged Care Minister 

“I have written to Minister Wells on this matter. She and her colleagues should know that in this part of the world, the impact of the workforce crisis is deeper and more difficult to overcome. This has been made worse by the fact that delays in Visa processing put additional uncertainties on many staff currently working in the sector.  

“We cannot afford to lose any of our aged care homes in the Parkes electorate. Often my constituents have hundreds of kilometres separating them from the next option if they cannot access care in their town. They cannot just skip over to the next suburb.  

“I am calling on the Labor Government to make a clear guarantee to aged care homes in the Parkes electorate that none of our aged care facilities will be closed either now or in the future as a result of unrealistic policy requirements,” Mr. Coulton said. 

ABOVE: Glen Neill Mayor of Bogan Shire 

Bogan Shire Mayor Glen Neill is disturbed with the news and says Bogan Shire Council will work hard to keep its local facility open for community members.  

“Our hospital and nursing home Glennie Hostel are the life blood of our town. We will do everything in our power to keep our aged facility open and functioning for the benefit of our community members and their families,” he said.