Kim O’KEEFFE (Shepparton) (20:18): I rise to make a contribution to the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Amendment (Medication Administration in Residential Aged Care) Bill 2025. That is a mouthful. This is a bill that has come before the house to amend the principal act, the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981, to further provide for the administration of medication to residents in aged care. Specifically this bill makes amendments to the administration of drugs of dependence for people in residential aged care for whom the medication has been supplied on prescription. The bill from 1 July 2026 will see the administration of medications that can only be administered by registered nurses, enrolled nurses with specific qualifications and other authorised registered health professionals.
In this place we do get to visit many residential aged care facilities. I am sure many in this place have turned up there, whether it be for 90th birthdays – in recent times there has been a run of 100th birthdays. They are becoming more common and I think a real example of our ageing communities. But I think when we go into those places, there is such a sense of concern and responsibility but also gratefulness for the staff that we see there.
I have a very close girlfriend who works in aged care, Robyn, and the way she treats those people that live in her care is with just such kindness and also as a family member. She often says to me, ‘They’re like my second family.’ I just see the joy, the genuine joy, that she shows to those residents. And we hope that is the case, because it is their home, and it should be a place of respect and dignity and kindness and fun. Often they have their happy hour. I was there recently at 5 o’clock and I had a glass of wine – lots of fun things that go on in these facilities. But we must always ensure that Victorians living in residential aged care receive the right medication, there is no doubt about that, and that they receive it safely. We have had many contributions with many stories shared on this bill. Aged care is such an important industry, and all of us want the best care for our loved ones and those in our community that move into aged care.
When my mother-in-law was living independently and beginning to struggle to manage at home, it was a hard time for her and for our family. It is a significant life change when you are having those discussions about taking them away from their home and moving them into a different facility. It can be quite significant and quite stressful, as I have said. But what we did find prior to moving her was that she was having some medical issues and some medical episodes. It was quite interesting, she was having her Webster-paks and doing self-administration of her medications, but what we found a bit later on when we moved her out of her little unit was that underneath her recliner were lots of tablets that she had been popping and not taking and missing, and that was really contributing to some of the dizzy spells and falls that she was having. Medication plays such a significant role in their wellbeing, and when they are not administering it properly, we saw firsthand some of those consequences.
It really is important that currently the administration of controlled medication is predominantly managed by registered nurses, health practitioners and aged care workers. Aged care residents increasingly have more complex care needs today and require more medications. We need to ensure that this is an industry that has the right protections in place to support those living in residential aged care facilities but also those working in these settings. Recently released data by the Commonwealth between July and September last year showed 36 per cent of people living in Victorian residential aged care facilities are prescribed nine or more medications, roughly equating to 60,000 Victorians. That is a lot of work to administer there. It is noted that, through the amendments the bill makes, those living in residential aged care will still have the freedom to administer their own medication if it is safe and they wish to do so. I also note that the bill will not change how medication is administered, like in someone’s own home or in hospitals. We must always ensure that Victorians living in residential aged care receive the right medication, they receive it safely, as I have said, and at the right time, from professionals, and we do not dispute that on this side of the house.
However, the bill does raise some concerns regarding the requirement of additional nurses and health practitioners. As recently as 31 July this year, the government expected the industry would need to hire around 650 new nurses. Given that there are shortages of nurses and medical practitioners across the state, and particularly in rural and regional Victoria, including in my electorate, there are concerns about how many of these providers will be able to meet compliance requirements, and who simply do not have the nurses or medical staff. As leading speaker and member for Gippsland East raised in his contribution, there are serious concerns – and many have also raised these concerns – about being able to provide enough qualified staff, and there are significant staff shortages particularly being experienced, as I said, in regional and rural communities. The proposed commencement date being 1 July 2026 will allow a transition of 90 days, but we do feel there needs to be a lot of work done prior to that date. The bill has highlighted the significant healthcare workforce shortages and further raises the question of what action is being done to address the significant healthcare worker shortages. Unless we address the workforce shortages, this bill will have significant issues. My electorate has a chronic shortage of nurses, not only at Goulburn Valley Health but also across the aged care sector. Both sectors rely heavily on employment of temporary staff and still experience significant staffing shortages. Currently, as of today, there are 75 vacancies for nurses in aged care alone across the Shepparton district, and GV Health also have significant staff shortages, in recent times being over 400 positions. The bill does allow for exceptions for administration in emergencies or other unexpected situations where delayed medication from the required qualified medical practitioner not being available could put a resident at risk.
From the outset, the Liberals and Nationals will not be opposing this bill. The amendments contained in the bill will address the risk of harm from current practice, which allows personal care workers to administer high-risk medicines without the education and regulation that apply to enrolled and registered nurses. But the reality is that this is going to be difficult to achieve under the current staff shortages being experienced broadly across the health sector.
The bill also enshrines a five-year review that will be undertaken by the Department of Health to ensure that these amendments that the bill makes are working as intended and that such providers are being adequately supported. Five years is considered a lengthy time to determine if the legislation is working.
The Royal Commission highlighted in its final report that as a country our demographics are changing, and they are changing significantly when it comes to aged care. This is influenced by the demand for the provision of aged care and facilities. It is projected that the number of Australians aged 85 years and over will increase to more than 1.5 million by 2058, equating to just under 4 per cent of the country’s population. Aged care is not just a single service alone. It provides a range of many programs and services, and in fact the care itself can range from low-level support to more intensive services, as we are discussing today. These services provide critical support and assistance to those living in aged care, helping people with their cleaning, laundry and shopping, with lots of other support mechanisms in place.
I am sure many of us in this place have seen firsthand – and it has been discussed today – the dedication and tireless work of our aged care service providers, who deliver exceptional care with their unwavering compassion and professionalism, supporting elderly residents, at times under challenging circumstances.
I would also like to acknowledge a friend of mine. Her name is Yvonne. She is 99 years of age, and she lives independently. Next June she will be turning 100. We are hoping she will get that letter from the King, which I am sure will happen. When you look at someone who is 99, living independently and doing it so well, I think we also need to make sure that they are getting the medical services and protections that they need in place. I often chat with her in regard to that. She has her Webster-paks, and she is doing quite well. Looking at this bill and chatting with her in recent times, she just keeps saying, ‘I’m managing quite well,’ but I question a little bit the oversight of how she is managing that. I think more and more people are living in their own facilities. They are living independently in their own homes, and they are living independently for longer. We want to see that, but we also need to ensure that quite broadly we have all of those services in place and that all those medical provisions are sufficient and working well.
I do just want to refer to the Member for Caulfield. He shared a story today about one of his relatives, his brother. They dropped his dad or one of his relatives into aged care. He said the brother went and picked him up. When my mother-in-law went into aged care – we finally got her a place. It takes time. Often you have to go on a waiting list, and it is a fairly lengthy process. We finally got her into a facility. A couple of days later her three sisters picked her up and took her home, took her back to her unit. It can be a difficult time. It can be a time of transition.
Again, I want to take my hat off, really, to the staff and the people that work in aged care and aged facilities, because they do such an incredible job. I think it is something that we should all be grateful for. Our nurses, whether they be in aged care or wherever they are providing their expertise, we will always be truly grateful for.
We do have some concerns. They are more around the implementation of the bill and mainly regarding staff shortages, but other than that we support the bill.