Australia needs the services of 20,000 nurses to serve in their aged care homes. This is the announcement made by the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) before releasing their final Productivity Commission report in aged care.

The ANF requested for additional funds so they can hire more nursing staff and prevent critical problems in their workforce.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard predicted big changes to understaffed aged care sector after delivering on health reform a week earlier.

The ANF federal secretary Lee Thomas said, “The shortage of aged care nursing staff is already having a real impact, with independent analysis showing...nursing home residents are on average receiving just 22 minutes of care from a nurse each day."

The secretary added that more funds are needed to ensure quality service for the aged care industry. She said,"The aged care sector needs an injection of almost $500 million to close the wages gap and attract an extra 20,000 nursing staff."

The Federal Secretary also said that nurses working in aged care homes receive lower salary than those working in public hospitals. The difference in salary is between USD168 and USD390 a week. Thomas said that Australia urgently needs to triple their manpower to meet the demands of the aging population.

She emphasized the urgency of this need by saying, “Fixing aged care can’t wait – it has to happen now. But one of the main reasons we can’t recruit and then retain aged care nurses and AINs is because of the significant wages gap experienced by aged care nursing staff across the country.