Aged Care Workers

Eligible professions

To access locum support from Rural LAP you or your team members must belong to one of the following professions working in an eligible aged care service:

• Residential Support Worker
• Care Support Worker
• Personal Care Worker
• Care Coordinator
• Community Support Worker

How our program works

Rural LAP offers a simple, streamlined process for requesting locum support.

We’re here to make things easy for you.

For assistance to cover sudden departures leading to vacant positions, annual leave or CPD leave you will need to complete the application form for assistance with a minimum of two weeks’ notice and provide permission from your organisation to approve the locum placement.

An application form will also need to be completed for facilities seeking assistance to cover vacant positions. This coverage is intended to support your facility while you actively recruit. Support can only be provided for a period of 14 to 90 days. Evidence of the vacant position will be required with the application for support.

Once the application form is received a program officer will confirm the details and begin searching the locum register for suitable locums who match the desired skill set.

Suitable candidates will then be contacted by email and asked to express their interest within 48 hours. The CVs of all interested candidates will be sent to you for you to review for suitability and make a decision. Rural LAP will notify the successful candidate.

All travel, accommodation arrangements and the contract of engagement for the locum are arranged by our program officers. You don’t have to worry about the details. Once these have been finalised, you will be notified of the travel itinerary by our travel and logistics coordinators. You are only responsible for paying the base salary of the locum, Rural LAP pays for the locum’s travel, accommodation and incentives.

You will need to arrange a comprehensive handover with the locum before and after the placement to ensure proper orientation of the practice and continuity of care for patients. Once the placement is completed, we ask that you complete and submit a feedback form.

Should there be an issue with travel or accommodation – or if the locum withdraws from the role – you will be notified and the issue will be resolved by our program officers to the best of their ability. All efforts will be made to ensure that a suitable locum will cover your period of leave. 

Eligibility criteria

To access our locum support for aged care, you must be:

• an aged care service in Modified Monash (MM) locations 4-7:
  • operated by an approved residential or home care provider (as defined under the Aged Care Act 1997); or
  • that received funding under the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care (NATSIFAC) program or the Multi-Purpose Services (MPS) program; or
• an aged care service in MM6-7 operated by an approved Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) provider.

*In exceptional circumstances where continuity of care is seen as high risk, other services providing aged care may also be considered for the placement of locums.

The Modified Monash Model (MMM) is how we define whether a location is very remote, remote, rural or a city. You can search your services MM classification here.

Placements span between 14 and 90 calendar days. Under exceptional circumstances, an extension may be sought by the host facility for up to 30 additional days.

Note: host facilities are limited to applying for one allocation/assignment per position per annum. Special consideration may be given in extreme circumstances such as to help avoid a facility closing and/or not being able to operate.

At least two weeks’ notice is required

Requests for locum support must be made at least two weeks prior to the commencement of the placement. Short notice applications will be considered on a case-by-case basis.