What is this project?

Unregulated care workers form part of the care workforcein Australia providing services across health and community settings. Care workers have many and varied roles within these services, some of which involve providing direct or hands-on care to clients, patients and residents. The unregulated care workforce has grown considerably in size, and in the face of growing workforce shortages, there is great awareness of the valuable contribution these workers make in providing direct or hands-on care and in assisting nurses and other allied health care workers so that their time can be more-effectively utilised. On the other hand, there is also concern regarding the protections afforded to care recipients, when services are provided to frail, vulnerable and dependent people by workers who are not regulated in the same way as health professionals.

In 2003, the Australian Health and Education Ministers supported Recommendations 7 and 35 from the National Review of Nursing Education (2002): Our Duty of Care report (NRNE) for a national nomenclature, minimum Certificate III qualifications from the Health or Community Services Training Packages and suitability checks for unregulated Direct Care Workers (DCWs) by 2008. Commonwealth, State and Territory Ministers for Health supported these recommendations as a means to ensure quality care and public safety, a national standard for DCWs education and enhanced employment opportunities.

The work for this project was divided into two phases:

Phase 1 – A common national nomenclature (Completed December 2005)

• collected data from the States and Territories on the range of job titles most commonly used for direct care workers and matches them to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZ ASCO).

Phase 2 – Competency levels, suitability checks, implementation strategies (Completed June 2006)

• collected data from the States and Territories on the most common qualifications, for direct care workers
• the current situation with regard to suitability checks for these workers
• strategies to expand workplace assessment & training places, and
• strategies and policies for meeting the 2008 targets set in the NRNE recommendations.

The Taskforce has been assisted by the State and Territory Chief Nurses who coordinated data activities in their various jurisdictions.

This following report summarises progress by the States and Territories towards implemention

Implementing minimum qualifications and suitability checks for the direct care workforce (PDF, 707.60 kb)