Six organisations funded $91m to drive home care workforce

The federal government has provided funding to six organisations to help grow Australia’s home care workforce by 13,000 over the next two years.

More than $91 million under the Home Care Workforce Support Program has been allocated to organisations in each state and territory.

The program is a part of the government’s response to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and is designed to raise awareness of career opportunities in the sector, skill and screen new workers and better equip providers to attract, train and retain staff.

ACSA consortium

Peak organisation ACSA will spearhead a consortium including Human Services Skills Organisation (HSSO) and Powerhouse Hub to invest more than $23 million from the program into boosting the Victorian and Tasmanian aged care workforce.

HSSO will lead a team of sourcing and training specialists to find new workers and enhance the skills of existing workers, while the PowerHouse Workforce solution will provide sourcing, screening and management technology.

ACSA CEO Paul Sadler says increasing the home care workforce is central to addressing the current aged care workforce shortage, which has been exacerbated by Covid.

 “This as an exciting opportunity for ACSA to … create awareness about the roles available and helping providers attract the right fit staff in home care,” he said.

“Home care providers can also expect a greater level of support on the engagement and retention of their workforce.”

Supporting remote communities

A key focus of the program will be addressing challenges of recruitment in remote communities, with funding towards the recruitment of workers and to help meet performance targets.

There will also be more flexibility for grant recipients to work with residential aged care and other care providers in these areas to promote access to home care services and develop a local care and support workforce.

The government has a target of 3.43 per cent of the care workforce identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander by 2031.

The funded organisations will be expected to help home care providers recruit personal care workers in line with that benchmark.

Working to grow the workforce

Minister for Health and Aged Care Greg Hunt said all home care providers can work with the organisations to grow and upskill their workforce.

“Senior Australians need a skilled, diverse, compassionate and valued workforce who will provide safe and high-quality care,” he said in a statement.

The selected organisations will help the government to meet this target through assisting home care providers in recruiting personal care workers.

Funding has been granted to:

• Settlement Services International in NSW and ACT
• Aged and Community Services, together with Mediashpere Holdings (Powerhouse Hub), Human Services Skills Organisation (HSSO), and MEGT in Victoria and Tasmania
• Council on the Ageing Queensland, together with Skills Hub Ltd, Partners4Health and Skills Generation, in Queensland
• Recruitment Solutions Group Australia in South Australia and Northern Territory
• North Metropolitan TAFE, together with South Metropolitan TAFE, Amana Living and Programmed Skilled Workforce in Western Australia
• National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in rural and remote communities.

This story first appeared on Community Care Review.

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