11,000 Nurses Short: The Aged Care Policy That Can't Be Met

Today, Australia is 11,000 registered nurses short. Yet every provider is being held to 44 RN minutes per resident per day, and the government's own modelling says it can't be done. We speak with Duncan McKimm, CEO of Clarence Village, whose facility went from compliant to non-compliant overnight without anything changing on the floor. We talk about why quality indicators haven't moved despite a 30% jump in costs, dignity of risk done properly, and the NDIS playbook for unlocking aged care's political power. As Duncan puts it, we should aim to be vaguely right instead of precisely wrong. Listen now. Key moments: 00:00: Why Australia Doesn’t Have Enough Nurses to Meet Its Own Care-Minute Rules 2:14: How Care-Minute Rules Could Leave Older Australians Without a Bed 12:40: What Aged Care Should Measure Instead of Staff Minutes 19:20: Why Aged Care Is Becoming ‘Precisely Wrong’ 33:56: How Compliance Creates Perfect Documents and Not Perfect Care 42:31: Why Regional Aged Care Is Losing Beds When Demand Is Rising 45:40: Why Support at Home Won’t Solve the Regional Aged Care Crisis 52:25: How Dignity of Risk Lets Older People Keep Living Their Lives 57:01: What Person-Centred Aged Care Actually Looks Like 1:04:22: Why Real Choice Means Letting Older People Take Risks 1:07:56: What Providers Need the Aged Care Minister to Understand 1:11:19: How Communities Can Force Political Change in Aged Care — Find out more about Duncan's Get Better With Age Australia campaign at getbetterwithageaustralia.com.au. Connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au  If you are building a new care facility today, or embedding care into an existing village, you should talk to Eevi.  Visit eevi.life or call 1300 802 738.