May 03, 2022
Loss of aged care beds as nurses leave
The aged care sector is facing a perfect storm.
Aged Care Association chief executive Simon Wallace says the sector is about 1000 nurses short, forcing operators to close beds – 500 in the last six months.
The remaining nurses are having to work double and even triple shifts, which is not sustainable.
“This situation is getting worse by the week. We are losing dozens of nurses either to district health boards where they can get paid more or unfortunately we are now starting to lose some overseas now the border is open so it is a perfect storm in our sector,” Mr Wallace says.
He says the association has put solutions to government, but they haven’t been taken up.