At the second summit held by the Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce in Adelaide last week, chair John Pollaers outlined three themes for the transformational change that is needed to ensure a vibrant future for the aged care workforce in Australia. These were further unpacked into 15 key elements, including the importance of whole of person care.
The three core themes were:
Shifting attitude – unity of leadership and societal reform. Strong leadership to bring about a change of attitude community-wide towards ageing and dying. Changing attitudes need to be driven by industry, all levels of government, together with the community.
Reforming access – by reframing caring to a broader, more proactive approach and enabling care to be provided in a simple, easy way (access to the right help, at the right time).
Enhancing life – caring for the aged should not be a burden. Requires a new lens to be placed over processes, systems and attitudes. Care must add to the quality of someone’s life with a workforce enabled to make life for others better.
Industry leaders, including our CEO Ilsa Hampton, were invited to share their perspectives on the big challenges facing the workforce, industry leaders, our communities and government as we move towards a new future for aged care.
The slides from John’s presentation are available here: ACWST Summit 2 Chair Presentation Final