Australia's peak body for aged care providers says help will be needed well beyond a newly-extended deadline for defence force reinforcements.
Australia's peak body for aged care providers has flagged the sector will need help from defence personnel beyond its September extension date.Aged care facilities with COVID-19 outbreaks can receive help from the Australian Defence ForceA Stawell aged care facility that received support says personnel were "a wonderful help".
Defence Minister Richard Marles and Aged Care Minister Anika Wells issued a joint statement on Sunday announcing the federal government would extend and expand its Australian Defence Force support for residential aged care from August 12 to September 30. Up to 250 general duties personnel will be able to be deployed to facilities across the country, a significant increase from the estimated 25 personnel currently assisting.
Aged and Community Care Providers Association chief executive Paul Sadler said the measure was "really welcomed" by the sector, but would do little to ease the enormous workforce shortage."We are short, in just residential care alone, 27,000 workers at the moment," Mr Sadler said."We've got a significant challenge with availability of staff," Mr Sadler said.There were more than 1,000 active outbreaks affecting aged care homes across Australia as of July 22.
"The defence force … is there to defend Australia, it's not really set up to be a long-term supporter of a rolling set of an emergencies due to something like a global pandemic."
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