Efforts to boost direct care staffing in aged care homes are showing results, with more facilities meeting government-set targets – but a new study from Flinders University and the Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA) raises a pressing question: is it enough to improve care quality?
The research, conducted by Flinders’ Caring Futures Institute and SAHMRI, analysed data from more than 2,000 aged care homes across Australia between January 2023 and March 2024. It examined how well facilities were meeting mandated care staffing targets and whether these correlated with improvements in residents’ experiences and care quality.
Since October 2022, Australia has set individual targets for total care and registered nurse minutes for aged care homes, based on the assessed care needs of their residents,” says lead author Associate Professor Stephanie Harrison, a researcher in Flinders’ Caring Futures Institute and SAHMRI.
The study found that the proportion of homes meeting or exceeding total care minutes rose from 41% to 53% over the study period. Government-run and smaller metropolitan facilities were more likely to meet these targets than larger for-profit or not-for-profit homes.
“The data suggests that location and facility size play a crucial role in the ability of an aged care home to provide adequate staffing levels.”
Associate Professor Stephanie Harrison
Despite staffing increases, researchers found no association between higher care minutes and improvements in resident-reported experiences or clinical quality indicators.
Instead, the researchers point to a need for better workforce development, including training, retention, and leadership, especially in rural and remote areas facing the greatest staffing challenges.
The paper ‘Long-term care staffing: associations with facility characteristics, residents’ experience and quality measures’ by Stephanie L Harrison, Dylan Harries, Hoi Man Fu, Gillian E Caughey, Tracy Comans, Megan Corlis and Maria C Inacio is published in the Journal of the American Medical Director’s Association. DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2025.105686
