Aged Care Reform

Barbara Braithwaite, Safe Swallowing Team • June 14, 2021

Working through the multiple issues that have arisen from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is certainly no easy task. Maree Bernoth, Associate Professor at Charles Sturt University School of Nursing, Midwifery & Indigenous Health raised a number of vital issues in the recent Aged Care InSite June 10, 2021 issue.

Highlighting those who provide the care to our elderly loved ones, is the issue of them receiving the correct support and quality of education as they care for and interact with older people. The government has provided $650 million to grow and upskill the workforce with 33,800 training packages for care workers. There are also tenders being processed that will provide newly graduated registered nurses with a Transition to Practice program to support them in their role. Tis is wonderful news, of course.

Swallowing safety and education is a vital area of care in the elderly. Each day we swallow 500-700 times. Imagine being uncomfortable or choking even periodically throughout the day as you eat, drink, take medication or even simply swallow your own saliva. With swallowing issues being the third most common cause of death in aged care facilities, we simply cannot afford to ignore quality education in this specific area.

Our Safe Swallowing Education Course is endorsed by the nursing unit managers whose facilities often fund their staff training. We work closely with them to ensure their staff complete the Course with 100% accuracy and are empowered to provide the appropriate support and strategies for the residents they support.

A recent graduate of our Safe Swallowing Course made this comment: “I learned a lot from this course, when going through all the steps I recognised some risk factors in my clients and have been able to mitigate them with the knowledge I acquired thanks to your course.” (Lisa F.)

We appreciate her feedback and feel privileged to be able to support those caring for our elderly in such a vital basic function we all share – swallowing.