More Australian doctors plan to cease or cut back on visits to aged-care facilities mostly because of a rise in unpaid non-contact time, pointing to a looming crisis as the population ages
More Australian doctors plan to cease or cut back on visits to aged-care facilities mostly because of a rise in unpaid non-contact time, pointing to a looming crisis as the population ages.
The AMA’s latest Aged Care Survey of more than 600 GPs, consultants, geriatricians and palliative care has found 35% planned to stop taking new patients, reduce the number of visits, or cease aged-care visits entirely in the next two years.
The survey, conducted in November 2017, also showed the proportion of respondents visiting aged-care facilities had dropped by 13.5% since the previous survey in 2015.
“We are making this report public because now, more than ever, we need action in aged care,” AMA President Tony Bartone said.
Given that nearly half of all monthly visits to aged-care facilities are by doctors aged 61 and more, and only 4% are conducted by doctors under 40, there could be a workforce crisis as doctors retire, he said.
Doctors said the major barriers were inadequate Medicare rebates and an increasing time burden of unpaid tasks, such as locating the patient, paperwork, talking to relatives and phone calls to staff in residential aged-care facilities (RACFs).
“More than four out of five doctors who had decreased their visits to RACFs over the past five years said that increasing, unpaid non-contact time was the reason for their decision,” Dr Bartone said.
But doctors’ top concern was a lack of suitably experienced nurses at aged-care facilities, according to the survey released today.
Asked to rate aged-care issues in order, 66% of doctors said the most urgent problem was “improved availability of suitably trained and experienced nurses and other health professionals”.
Compared with the 2015 survey, RACF staff experience and qualifications overtook doctors’ remuneration as their most urgent concern.
Many doctors reported that there was sometimes no nurse available for doctors to carry out a clinical handover and no nurse to administer medications after hours.
“Almost 85% of doctors said that a nurse, with most specifying a registered nurse, is the level of expertise required to conduct a professionally responsible handover for their patient’s care,” Dr Bartone said.
“This poses serious risks to the health of patients living in RACFs.”
The survey results have been presented to the Aged Care Workforce Strategy Taskforce, which was due to report to Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt by June 30.
