Australian healthcare workers to publicly mourn job losses in Canberra on Thursday

CANBERRA, March 28, 2023— Healthcare workers and community advocates will observe a minute of silence on Thursday on behalf of over 5000 colleagues who have lost their jobs due to Government oversights throughout the aged care reforms process.

Led by Dr Anthony Schoenwald, registered nurse, nurse practitioner and theologian, and Alwyn Blayse, physiotherapist and CEO of Allied Aged Care (ACC), the minute’s silence is part of a non-denominational ceremony to be conducted Canberra and live-streamed nationwide. This focus on allied health also coincides with a senate petition calling for a solution to bring back Ens and allied health who have lost jobs which will be lodged today from Greens Senator Janet Rice.

“We thought it was appropriate to have a minute of silence to say that we value enrolled nurses and allied health professionals and want them back in nursing homes again,” Blayse said.

“We see, hear and acknowledge their vital importance, and want to emphasise that them being there in aged care or not is a matter of life or death for older Australians.”

According to Blayse, aged care allied health jobs were not protected during the October 2022 transition from the previous Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI) to the new Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC).

Without mandated minimum standards attached to the new allied health funding streams in aged care, he said, cuts were incentivised and job losses have been steadily increasing ever since— a fate made worse by successive Federal Governments’ denial of the problem.

“Without any acknowledgement or recognition from the government or Department of Health, of what we all know happened, I’ve heard many feel stuck and are struggling to move on,” Blayse said.

“The truth is that we loved working with older clients and did our best in a broken system.

“We didn’t want to leave and would have loved to have stayed in a more restorative model that encouraged greater use of allied health— the model that the Royal Commission clearly indicated was necessary.

“The Royal Commission said that the levels of allied health two years ago were inadequate to prevent deterioration of older Australians living in aged care, and we only have a quarter of that provided now.”

Blayse added that the stories from the coalface are heart-wrenching, with the AN-ACC causing a cascade of redundancies. 

“I have heard from people who lost jobs with a day’s notice on September 30 last year, a day before the new funding system came into effect. 

“One place that had five therapists were told to choose which of them would get to keep their job.”

Many of these physiotherapists have struggled to find employment after being dismissed from the aged care sector. 

“Some still haven’t found work, and even those that are in different jobs now are worried what happens to clinical care of the residents without them,” Blayse said. 

“Older people are suffering without us to help their pain, falls, and to move more easily and do the things they love.”

This event will coincide with Senator Rice’s lodgement of a petition which will be lodged in the senate today, organised by Blayse, with 21,000 signatures.

The Change.org petition, calls on Anika Wells, Federal Aged Care Minister, to amend the Aged Care Act 1997 to include minimum mandatory allied health and enrolled nursing minutes in the Star Ratings quality indicators.

The event will be supported by a growing coalition of grassroots and community-based advocacy bodies, including national reform group Aged Care Reform Now and legal advocacy charity Aged Care Justice.

Minister Wells was invited to the ceremony, however was unable to attend . Her office gave permission to share the ministers statement at the ceremony “The Australian Government recognises the crucial work of all aged care workers to maintain the health and wellbeing of older people receiving aged care. We will always put the needs of vulnerable older Australians first and support the workers who deliver this critical care.” 

The ceremony organisers have also requested attendance from Senator Rice,  Senator Louise Pratt, Senator Linda Reynolds and Senator Marielle Smith, and ACT Senator David Pocock as well as professional groups, and advocate groups, however its open to all on Thursday at 12pm AEST via zoom http://bringbacknursesandphysios.com.au/

AAC Health Group including Allied Aged Care, is an Queensland-based physiotherapy and occupational therapy provider, led by senior physiotherapist and CEO Alwyn Blayse BPty, MAICD, MAPA who has over 20 years’ experience in the sector. He is the clinical consultant to Aged Care Justice, and a committee member and QLD representative for Aged Care Reform Now, a non-partisan grassroots group driven by older people and families who have personal experiences with aged care.