A Northland aged-care provider is combating a critical national shortage of registered nurses, and challenges recruiting healthcare assistants, through an innovative programme aimed at boosting the number of general Care staff it employs to undertake non-critical nursing duties. Kerikeri Retirement Village has created a new entry-level Carer position to free up more senior staff who, in turn, can relieve pressure on nurses and leave them free to focus mainly on the clinical work they are trained and qualified for.
Kerikeri Retirement Village is backing the initiative with a recruitment drive aimed at boosting the number of Care staff it employs at all levels of seniority. The CARE for your Career campaign kicked off last week and is aimed at school-leavers, older people wanting to return to the work-force, and those starting the new year with thoughts about a career change.
“This is an essential response to a deeply concerning all-of-NZ skills shortage that is hobbling the aged care sector, particularly those of us operating in the regions,” said Kerikeri Retirement Village chief executive Hilary Sumpter.
“We’ve taken a good, hard, granular look at the tasks undertaken by our healthcare assistants and figured out how we can reduce staff shortage pressures by delegating aspects of their work. This is where the new entry position of Carer Support Assistant comes in.”
The CARE for your Career campaign, led by operational support manager Cheryl Silich, is centred around five of the Village’s existing Care staff and the relationships they have with the people they look after. It’s designed to spark interest about a career in Care among the target audiences and give them a feel for what’s involved.
“We haven’t held back,” Ms Sumpter said. “The videos offer a warts-and-all view of what a career in Care offers and entails. They also make clear the emotional investment and we have gone to great lengths to describe the type of person who will make a great Carer.”
The campaign is currently running only on Facebook but the Village is considering extending it to newspapers and radio. It underscores the opportunities for career progression that are available to people entering at any level of seniority.
“Our new entry-level Carer Support Assistant role is an ideal part-time opportunity for secondary-school students considering a career in nursing or medicine and wanting to get a feel for whether they have the aptitude or appetite for this work,” Ms Sumpter said. “Or for young people who don’t plan to go to uni but who are looking for rewarding work with training and progression pathways.”
Healthcare Assistants can progress into nursing or other aspects of the Care sector such as different types of therapy, administration or facilities management.
“People generally don’t realise the progression and variety that a career in Care can offer so CARE for your Career aims to put some of this right,” Ms Sumpter said.
Many of the career opportunities available at The Village do not require existing qualifications. The Village offers full training and support for any of these roles.
Ms Sumpter said the national shortage of aged-care nurses was caused by a combination of government policy and the COVID pandemic.
“For years we’ve had a situation where government has paid nurses in mainstream hospitals more than those in rest-homes and aged-care facilities. As a result we’ve had to rely on immigration to get the staff we needed. Then came COVID and the border closures, so now we’re in recovery mode.”
There has been a post-COVID surge of New Zealanders wanting to get into nursing but the qualification process takes several years.
“As a result we’ve had to be a little bit smart about how we bridge until the situation recovers,” Ms Sumpter said. “We think the plan we’ve put in place will do the trick. But we sorely need Carer support to fill in the gaps.”
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