The SKILLSIQ Discussion Paper, ‘The Reimagined Personal Care Worker’ is focused on the role of a Personal Care Worker in the context of the modern aged care workplace and seeks input into the skills base for the personal care worker job role now and into the short term future (five to ten years).

The objective was to identify what skills and attributes a Personal Care Worker will need to meet the changing needs of a diverse care recipient base and how that will impact on models of service delivery.

ACSA consulted with the sector to gather information on a number of questions raised in the discussion paper.   Organisations provided feedback about the skills, attributes and training a personal care worker needs to support their current and future client base.

This was our opportunity as an industry to have input into a re-design of the vocational qualification to help us build the workforce of the future.

Some of the key findings from ACSA’s consultations included:

Diversity and inclusion

99% of Service providers felt that a unit of competency within the Certificate III in Individual Support or its replacement needed to be a unit of competency focused on developing awareness about diversity and working with diverse people.

Customer service

There was high value placed on the “personality” of the personal care worker and the need for them to be a “good fit” with the care recipient; this then needed to couple with the personal care workers skills and knowledge (ability) to support the care recipients individual health and social needs.

Continuity between Home Care and Residential Care

Personal Care Workers require a generic set of skills to allow them to provide direct care and support to care recipients irrespective of whether the care and support is delivered in the community or in a residential care setting.

Recruiting Personal Care Workers based on their personal values and attributes was generally seen as a requirement in both Community Care and Residential Aged Care to ensure the relationship between the care recipient and the Personal Care Worker was going to be a “good fit” and would contribute towards customer service and quality care interactions.

The range of skills required

67% of Service Providers advised that their organisation had a policy in place to only employ Personal Care Workers who have a Certificate III in Individual Support or equivalent qualification.

97% of Service Providers wanted to see the use of Psychometric Screening Tool/s used to screen for ideal attributes during recruitment, however only 6% of them currently had access to a formal screening tool in their organisation.

Service Providers felt that it was imperative for a Personal Care Worker to have a broad range of skills, but a fundamental requirement was the ability to effectively communicate both in spoken and written English.

Individual workers vs multidisciplinary teams

90% of Service Providers would like to see the aged care industry have a mandated industry induction program, similar to the requirements of other industries where there is high risk in terms of workplace health and safety, infrastructure, or risk to community.

The T-shaped Personal Care Worker

It was generally felt that a broad range of skills should be covered in any vocational qualification aligned to the job role of Personal Care Worker (Cert III) and that the specialist skills should be additional units of competency or skill sets that could build towards recognition as a Certificate IV level qualification.

Multi-disciplinary 

There was consensus that more funding was required to pay Personal Care Workers at a higher rate in recognition of both the nature of the work and the range of skills and expertise required to deliver appropriate care and support.

Funding models also needed to make provision for Service Providers to be able to employ more registered professionals to be able to supervise Personal Care Workers appropriately in delivering care and support.

On-the-job training was highlighted as being critical in developing appropriate skills in Personal Care Workers and this should be a focus of all pre-employment and vocational qualifications.

ACSA and the industry through our consultations are supportive of a minimum entry level qualification for the industry, but one that meets the needs of the sector, developing a broad general skills base in people who have the right personal attributes, attitude and commitment to provision of quality care and support.
 

Read the Aged Care Services Sector – National Consultative Feedback Collation here. 

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