Blue Mountains aged care nurse Joy Hofman was one of the 50 "burnt out and dejected" workers taking part in a protest in Canberra this week to complain about lowering standards in her field.
Ms Hofman was with a group of registered nurses, enrolled nurses and assistants in nursing from residential aged care sites across the state who travelled to Canberra on Tuesday February 8, desperate to have their voices heard as federal parliament resumes.
The Hazelbrook registered nurse has spent 35 years in the job, dedicating her life to the health service. She is also on the council of the New South Wales nursing union and said with fewer registered nurses on staff, elderly residents sometimes face delays in getting appropriate care and end up in overstretched hospitals.
In her time in the sector she has seen nurse-to-aged care resident ratios plummet.
"Ratios need to be mandated," she said.
"We really want the government to listen to our concerns and our plan to fix the broken aged care system because we are deeply concerned for our residents' safety," Ms Hofman said.
"The COVID pandemic has exposed the flaws of aged care and chronic understaffing. Providers are getting millions in subsidies and there's no strings attached. Funding must be linked to staffing. We will all get old, it's immoral, we are standing up for what we believe in."
NSWNMA Assistant General Secretary, Shaye Candish, said the situation was beyond shocking and aged care nurses had home truths to deliver to every parliamentarian they encountered.
"Last Friday while the Prime Minister was shampooing an apprentice's hair for the cameras, more aged care residents tragically lost their lives because of the horrible crisis the sector is in," said Ms Candish.
"This government is accountable for the deaths of 1,500 aged care residents since the pandemic began. Sadly, 533 of these COVID-19 related deaths have occurred this year alone.
"Our aged care members across NSW are at breaking point. There's simply still not enough staff to provide basic care."
Armed with first-hand accounts of chronic workforce shortages, poor access to booster vaccines, and ongoing battles over supplies of personal protective equipment and rapid antigen tests, the NSW Nurses and Midwives' Association (NSWNMA) members have tried to highlight stark realities of working in aged care under the Morrison government.
"We've had reports of an aged care nurse working 16 shifts in a row. The expectation that a nurse can work 16 back-to-back shifts is disgraceful and unsafe,": Ms Candish said.
"Aged care nurses cannot continue to carry the burden being placed on them. Members tell us the government's quick-fix privately sourced workforce has been remarkably absent, with reports of limited availability, the wrong qualifications, or not even showing up.
"It's been more empty promises, more wasted money and a proper waste of time by this government, leaving aged care workers fatigued and fed up. The Prime Minister would have us all believe his government is doing everything it can to 'fix' aged care but is this really the best they can do?" Ms Candish asked.