The Review And Analysis Of Existing Data On The AgedCare Workforce And The Design And Distribution Of A Census And Survey On The Aged Care Workforce
Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing
As Australia's demographic structure changes, it is widely accepted that our aged care sector will face new problems. There is much concern that existing employment levels will be insufficient to cope with the projected future care needs of the elderly. Attracting skilled workers to the industry (and keeping them there) is a critical challenge. NILS was engaged by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing (DHA) to complete a comprehensive analysis of the aged care workforce, with a view to aiding in planning for future workforce needs. There were two components to our work. The first involved an examination of what can be known about the dimensions of the aged care workforce (its size, skill base etc) from existing data sources such as the ABS, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, and various trade unions. The second part involved the collection of new, original data from facilities (a census of three thousand establishments) and their workers (a selective sample of over six thousand persons), to repudiate or confirm the findings from Part One. Existing sources of data are unable to identify even the number of people in the direct aged care workforce, let alone anything about who these workers are. The survey provided this information for the first time, and also enabled us to establish their working arrangements and attitudes to their work. Our final report to the Department argued that, on the basis of all available information, the aged care sector does not appear to be facing any serious "workforce crisis".
Professor Sue Richardson, Professor Mary Luszcz, Associate Professor Carol Grbich, Associate Professor Bill Martin, Dr. Sue Stack, Josh Healy and Diana Ilsley
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