Policy reform rarely delivers neat moments of closure. That is why recent confirmation that religious sisters who deliver direct care count fully toward care minutes requirements is worth reflecting on, writes Alex Lynch. Source: CHA.
It serves as a reminder that providers can influence – not just accept – the policy settings that shape care to the benefit of older Australians.
For many Catholic providers, this issue was never theoretical. Religious sisters have long delivered hands-on care in residential services as registered and enrolled nurses and personal care workers.
Their contribution is part of the everyday delivery of aged care across the Catholic sector, including within CHA member organisations such as the Franciscan Sisters of the Heart of Jesus and the Little Sisters of the Poor, who are central to this issue.
Together with the Department and Aged Care Minister Sam Rae, we developed a solution that recognises the contributions of religious sisters in aged care appropriately.
Yet for a time, the rules failed to clearly recognise that contribution. Ambiguity around whether religious sisters’ direct care could be counted toward care minutes created uncertainty for providers – affecting compliance, star ratings, funding, workforce planning, and morale.
More fundamentally, it raised a question of fairness: whether vocation and professional care work were being treated as something separate from, rather than integral to, the aged care workforce.
The updated rules now make it clear that where religious sisters are delivering direct care – whether as nurses or personal care workers – their care minutes count in exactly the same way as any other qualified staff member.
That recognition matters. It matters for funding integrity. It matters for workforce fairness. It matters legally. And it matters for respecting the valuable work of people whose service to older Australians is inseparable from the mission and identity of Catholic care.
This change did not happen overnight. Nor did it happen in isolation. It came about through steady, consistent advocacy.
Advocacy does not always deliver quick wins. But when it is consistent, collaborative, and anchored in real care, it can – and does – change outcomes – for those receiving care but also those providing it. The recognition of religious sisters in care minutes is proof of that.
The task now is to carry that same confidence and commitment into the reforms that lie ahead.
Alex Lynch is Catholic Health Australia’s director of aged and community care.
FULL STORY
Why recognising religious sisters in care minutes matters (By Alex Lynch, CHA)
