Why Rashid and Syam believe care revolution could be next door in Wagga

Successive inquiries into the aged care system have found a lack of qualified staff has driven worsening health and wellbeing for the aged and ageing.

Now, a group of former healthcare workers in Wagga want to revolutionise the industry.

Their business, CareH seeks to leverage technology to create broader connections among the healthcare community, making it easier aged care providers to find staff.

Co-founder Rashid Samad said they want to change the way nurses operate in the community.

"CareH is focusing on two very important things. First is the workforce challenges the community faces, and also our elderly people in the community," he said.

"The workforce part is around how we connect people in the local community who are not currently in the workforce. The second is around the people not currently in the workforce who want to work. We want to provide them support and mentoring.

"Somewhere next door might have the skills - we just need to tap them."

Mr Samad and co-founder Syam Mohan have more than a decade each of healthcare experience as nurses and administrators.

In their view, the current focus on attracting new people to the profession is adding more water to a leaky cup.

Nurses have left the profession en masse, citing burnout and low job satisfaction as the primary reasons.

A survey by the Australian College of Nursing estimated more than 20,000 left the profession in the immediate wake of COVID-19.

Mr Samad said they think the key to creating a better local healthcare system is creating a higher job satisfaction environment for nurses, so they stay longer, or return to the profession if they've left.

CareH would act as a sort of nurse agency that seeks to make temporary matches between healthcare workers and healthcare providers - particularly in the aged care sector.

This would allow nurses to set the hours they are willing to work, and healthcare providers to select candidates who are available during the necessary hours, and have the necessary skills and qualifications.

What sets CareH apart from existing nurse agencies is the intent to leverage skills existing in the community, buy upskilling it's workers and retaining them on casual contracts that offer more rights than traditional labor hire.

"The challenge is often around retention. Healthcare professionals want more flexibility, and they want work life balance - especially post COVID," he said.

"We're giving them the option to work across the health sector ... we want to use each of their skills across the community to the maximum.

"If I have expertise, I want to utilise it for my community, not for this provider or that provider. What will happen in the end is that person will feel their skills have been fully utilised across the community. So the person feels valued."

Figures obtained by rural health minister Ryan Park in June showed the Murrumbidgee Local Health District (MLHD) was short 41.6 full time equivalent nurses.

Shortages in the aged care system are likely more severe due to lower rates of pay, and less opportunity for career progression than working in the public system.

Aged care providers have argued this makes it impossible for them to fulfil the government mandate to have a registered nurse on site 24/7.

Mr Mohan thinks these figures show the need for changes in perception of aged care nursing to preserve the health of some of the most vulnerable Australians.

"The aged care sector is always challenging and complex. Not all staff have that passion to work with the elderly," he said.

"It's a skill - one I've learnt over the last 12 years, so I can share that with someone who's struggling, if they want to do something they haven't done before.

"I spoke to a retired nurse recently - she's really brilliant, skilled in managing people with dementia. What if we used her skills or knowledge and expertise to train someone in Temora? It would be a win for everyone."