Aged care organisation behind elderly Jacinda Ardern billboard pleads for urgent change.
The organisation behind a billboard showing an aged version of Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson said they resorted to the PR stunt to raise awareness of the need for nurses after their pleas for the immigration system to change fell on deaf ears.
Nearly 1000 aged care beds have been lost this year and the sector is blaming chronic underfunding, rising costs and harsh immigration settings.
By 2030, it is estimated another 12,000 to 16,000 aged care beds will be needed, which is as many beds as there are in the entire public hospital network, Aged Care Matters said.
Newshub revealed on Wednesday that since July, the Government has signed off on employers to recruit 1097 aged care nurses from overseas. While 95 nurses have applied and 69 have been approved, only five have arrived in the country.
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