Aged Care Insite Issue 92 | December 2015 - January 2016 | Page 16

industry & policy and fewer registered nurses, and those that are there are getting older and older. “We believe in starting with a clear project around mapping the residential aged-care sector, working out the numbers of staff they have, then [determining] the numbers they would need to provide the sort of care we think is acceptable.” The ANMF will finish off the Staffing and Skills Mix project in 2016, which started a number of years ago with Commonwealth funding. “We have to start paying people well,” Thomas says. “We have to get the right skills mix and staffing levels in the sector to enable people to deliver quality care. “I’m a very optimistic woman. I think we will get there. It does mean getting the players around the table and a firm commitment that we are going to address these significant issues in aged care.” Despite the challenges, Thomas says it’s a good time to be working in the sector. “There is a lot of change happening … Change is a good thing.” EVERALD COMPTON CHAIRMAN, LONGEVITY FORUM Since the release of the national Blueprint for an Ageing Australia, and the subsequent formation of the Longevity Forum, its chairman, Everald Compton, says the group has made steady progress. “We [said] it would take five years for us to get action on all of the issues [outlined in the report]. We have just completed year one.” Intergenerational partnerships have been a big focus for the group in 2015, Compton says. In June, he announced the formation of Wise Young, a not-for-profit company with a purpose to “bring young and old together with investors and corporate partners”. “There are far too many bright young Australians who are unemployed” and many “older Australians who want to keep working after 65, but they are denied the opportunity to stay in the market”,