Aged and Community Care Providers Association head Tom Symondson said the community needed to recognise “nurses, personal care workers and allied health professionals don’t grow on trees”.
Of course the aged care workforce doesn’t grow on trees. However, it will grow with better working conditions, including better pay.
Over the past 10 years, there have been numerous inquiries, reviews, consultations, think tanks and task forces into the aged care workforce. These inquiries have resulted in a large number of recommendations, most of which have been ignored by successive governments.
First published as a letter in The Age on 22 December 2022