Agency Staff Ratio's

[Snappo]

Does anyone know if there is a limit to the number of agency staff versus permanent staff on a shift? Just reading through the latest aged care crisis topic, 2 more facilities under sanction. I noticed that one of the reasons for one of the facilities being sanctioned was that they were relying too heavilly on agency staff. We have agency staff coming out of our ears, the residents don't even bother telling them their likes and dislikes anymore, because the chance of seeing them again is negligible. I find this amazing since, just 2 months ago we had an in-service on 'person centred care'.....what a joke. Our regular staff have had their hours cut, and many have left because of this, so the presence of agency staff gets higher and higher. We even have agency staff doing double shifts!!!!

I believe that, despite the hourly rate being significantly higher,in the long run, it is cheaper to have agency, as once they have been paid for their work, there is no more obligation. No holiday pay, sick leave, or any other type of paid leave. This has to be so, or facilities would be trying a whole lot harder to procure, and keep, staff.

Does anybody know if I'm right or wrong?

[industrystandard]

Categorically wrong on the agency staff thing. Agency is a huge cost to facilities and one which they try to minimise. The really dodgy places refuse to use agency at all, relying on regular staff to work double or triple shifts or working short-staffed. The reality is, the staff aren't out there for all the reasons we talk about here so often; low pay, poor conditions etc.

I too noticed the comment on the use of agency staff at Norwood Nursing Home. There is no legislation that mandates a certain ratio of regular to agency staff. I think that they may be implying that the onus is on the facility to ensure as best they can that they "maintain an adequate number of appropriately skilled staff to ensure that the care needs of care recipients are met"* by doing what they can to minimise agency useage. I noticed that they also failed on care planning which is hard to achieve with a high amount of agency staff. It's certainly interesting that the Agency has chosen to pass comment on an industry-wide problem and I am certainly wondering what the implications of it are.

* The Residential Care Manual interprets it thus:

11.5.2 Legislative Requirements
The Aged Care Act and Principles 1997 require providers to maintain an adequate number of appropriately skilled staff to ensure the care needs of residents are met, including skilled nursing staff where this is indicated by the needs of the residents.

Schedule 1 of the Quality of Care Principles 1997 specifies the care and services that must be provided by an aged care home. Parts 1 and 2 set out the ‘hotel services’ together with the ‘care and services’ that must be provided to all residents who need them. Part 3 sets out the ‘care and services’ that must be provided for residents needing a high level of care. This includes provision of nursing services which require a registered nurse or other appropriate professional. It also requires that, for all high care residents, initial and ongoing assessment, planning and management of care for residents are carried out by a registered nurse.

[Snappo]

Hi Industrystandard, thanks for your reply. You Know, I still question this though. If you take a person's annual wage, then add their 9% superannuation, holiday, sick, compassionate, carers, maternity, workers compensation (very common in aged care), long service leave, and whatever else I have forgotten, surely it must come to more than one flat payment for an agency staff!!

At my place of employment, regular staff are still being put off (interestingly, the longer a staff member has been there, the more difficult they make it for them to stay), and hours are being cut. We have lost a lot of staff because of the way they have been treated, or having their hours reduced. The situation has become so ridiculous, that several unions are now involved. There has to be a reason for this, and the only one I can think of is financial, maybe I'm wrong, but what else??

[peta]

It's good to see that at long last the AMA is calling for more nurses to be employed in aged care. About time the medical profession spoke out. http://www.agedcarecrisis.com/news/3465 ... -aged-care They also want rooms in facilities and retirement villages where they can consult privately with residents. And they are saying how hard it is to provide good palliative care in some of these places. So I hope they have put their lobbying hats on.

[Administrator]

Poll: What's your staff/resident ratios?

[Snappo]

Just a quick question. I have a document from my place of work which states 'Resident to Carer ratio should be consistent with national benchmarks for staffing'. Does anybody know what this 'benchmark' is?

[industrystandard]

I think some-one was tossing off when they wrote that policy. There is no legislated or government sanctioned benchmark which states ratios. It's possible that one of the private industry bodies has released a benchmark at some time or other but it would doubtless favour the employer. It probably refers to industry standard which is, in reality, industry 'practice'.