Aged care is primarily concerned with offering necessary care for older people in Australia as the aging process makes it hard for the old to look after themselves. The provision of these services stands out as an intricate social product system. Aged care is characterized by a package of services tailored to the needs of every individual. The services provided include “palliative care, nursing care, accommodation, and personal care services” (O’Connell, et al., p. 416).
Aged care providers in Australia lie in two categories; formal or informal aged care providers (Boyce, 2008). In informal care services, families and friends are the main players in service provision. In 2003, 83 percent of the aged population in Australia received aged care services from family members and friends. 64 percent of the aged received the services from formal care providers. According to King (2008), aged care providers make up 23 percent of the health care workforce. In 2007, “at least 262, 000 people were working as aged care providers” (King, 2008, p.77). Of these, 175,000 were working in the residential areas while 87,000 worked at the community level (Bird, et al., 2007). Most of these aged care providers (79 percent) offer direct services while the rest offer support services. The majority of workers in aged care in Australia are women, in most cases are old, and thus work for few hours.
Informal service care providers mostly assist the old with mobility services, communication, emotional tasks, paperwork, transport, and cognitive problems (Joyce, et al., 2007). On the other hand, formal aged care providers offer services related to health only. According to Schermerhorn et al. (2011), “Most of the aged people that depend on informal service providers continuously depend on formal service care providers as they grow older” (p.89). The available care workforce in Australia is underutilized. Among the individuals working at the community level, 40 percent claim that they would wish to increase the number of hours they work in a week. Furthermore, “27 percent of those in residential care claim that they would like to increase the number of hours they work per week” (King, 2008, p.75). Care providers working at the community level currently work for seven hours per week, while those at the residential level work for an average of twenty-three hours per week. There is a shortage of full-time nurses offering aged care services in the country. This shortage stems from financial constraints and challenges in hiring and retaining qualified nurses (Venturato, Kellett, & Windsor, 2007).
As the number of the aged population in Australia swells up, demand for aged care service providers is expected to increase. There is a challenge since most people are not willing to work in this sector because of the poor salary (Segal, & Bolton, 2009). Besides, skilled staff is needed since the services required by the aging population are becoming complex day after day. In addition, most of the aged service care providers complain about the working conditions.
To cater to these challenges, the Australian government ought to come up with varied measures. To address the issue of employee skills, increased training, and education are paramount (Baxter, Glendinning, & Clarke, 2007). The government ought to come up with continuous training programs to enhance the skills of those already working as care providers, as well as those willing to join the workforce. In addition, the government ought to introduce attractive incentives to encourage people to work as aged care service providers (Spooner-Lane & Patton, 2007). Many people shy away from working in this industry due to poor the salaries offered. To attract more care service prodders, the government ought to improve on the working conditions.
References
Baxter, K., Glendinning, C., & Clarke, S. (2007). Making informed choices in social care: the importance of accessible information. Health and Social Care in the Community, 16 (2), 197–207.
Bird, S. R., Kurowski, W., Dickman, G. K., & Kronborg, I. (2007). Integrated care facilitation for older patients with complex health needs reduces hospital demand. Australian Health Review, 31 (3), 451–461.
Boyce, A. (2008). Health workforce: innovation, substitution and reform. In S. Barraclough, & G. Gardner (Eds.), Analyzing Health Policy: A Problem-Oriented Approach (pp. 105–118). Marrickville: Elsevier Australia.
Joyce, C., Stoelwinder, J., McNeil, J., & Piterman, L. (2007). Riding the wave: Current and emerging trends in graduates from Australian university medical schools. Medical Journal of Australia, 186, 309–312.
King, M. (2008). The Aged Care Channel. London: Sage.
O’Connell, B., Ostaszkiewicz, J., Sukkar, K., & Plymat, K. (2008). The Tri-focal Model of care: Advancing the teaching-nursing home concept. Article in International Journal of Nursing Practice, 14(6), 411-417.
Schermerhorn, J., Davidson, P., Poole, D., Simon, A., Woods, P., & Chau, S. (2011). Human Resource Management, in Management. Stafford: John Wiley and Sons.
Segal, L., & Bolton, T. (2009). Issues facing the future health care workforce: the importance of emand modelling. Australia and New Zealand Health Policy, 6 (12), 1-8.
Spooner-Lane, R., &Patton, W. (2007). Determinants of burnout among public hospital nurses. Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25, 8–16.
Venturato, L., Kellett, U., & Windsor, C. (2007). Nurses’ experiences of practice and political reform in long-term aged care in Australia: implications for the retention of nursing personnel. Journal of Nursing Management, 15, 4–11.