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”,