Aged Care Employee Day in Australia Date in the current year: August 7, 2024

Australian Aged Care (also known as Elderly Care) is the provision of services to meed the unique needs of older people. It includes both in-home and residential aged care. Over 83% of older Australians prefer to continue living in their own home and access in-home services, but retirement villages and nursing homes are available to those who don’t want or can’t live at home. To keep the cost of aged care manageable and affordable, Australian government provides subsidies.

Aged Care Employee Day is the professional holiday of all specialists involved in caring for elderly people, including nurses and allied health professionals, personal care workers, hospitality teams, cooks, cleaners, laundry employees, leisure and lifestyle officers, administration teams, volunteers, etc. It doesn’t mater whether they work with the elderly directly or help them indirectly; what matters is that they make life easier for people who are unable to take care of themselves anymore.

Aged Care Employee Day was initiated by Whiddon, a not-for-profit organization providing care to elderly Australians, in 2018. The next year, it was made a national event by Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) to celebrate the contributions of all aged care employees across the country. In 2020, other industry associations joined the celebration, including Aged Care Guild, Aged & Community Services Australia, Baptist Care Australia, Catholic Health Australia and UnitingCare Australia.

There are over 360,000 aged care employees in Australia, who contribute to caring for more than 1.3 million older people. Although many people primarily associate aged care with nurses, only about 20% of these employees are nurse practitioners, registered nurses or enrolled nurses. The majority of aged care workforce is comprised of other roles, such as allied health professionals, personal care assistants, cleaning and laundry, catering and chefs, management, maintenance, administration, leisure, and more.

All these professional play a crucial role in providing proper care for older people because the elders’ quality of life depends on many factors, each of which matters. However, special attention is paid to the contribution of personal care workers because they make up the majority of the aged care workforce, but their value is often underestimated.

On the occasion of Aged Care Employee Day, relevant organizations are encouraged to thank their employees for their hard work and dedication by ordering Thanks for Caring badges and hosting tea parties and other activities. Those who want to show their appreciation for people working in aged care can say thank you in person or share their positive stories about aged care employees online using the hashtag #ThanksforCaring to spread the word about the contribution of aged care employees.