Commissioners Information Bulletin 072
Issued: 6 September 1999

Care Support Services (Aged Care Work) Traineeship - Certificate III

At the request of the NSW Community Services and Health Industry Training Advisory Body, the Department of Education and Training has agreed to the interim registration of a traineeship in Care Support Services (Aged Care Work) Certificate III (National Code 15120 NSW) to enable its immediate implementation in NSW.

The new traineeship will replace the existing traineeship programs for Care Support Services Certificate III (Nursing Assistant) and Care Support Services Certificate III (Personal Assistant) pending completion of the Vocational Training Order alignment to the qualifications framework for the Community Services Training Package.

Based on the new national competency standards for Aged Care Work, the traineeship course has been structured to fully integrate the on- and off-the-job components and will run for a nominal term of 12 months.

Course structure
Trainees are required to complete 9 core modules and all specialist modules in either:

Stream A: Personal Care Assistant (PCA). PCAs work in low care facilities and provide support to clients who have a stable health status and are able to retain responsibility for directing and monitoring their own care needs.
OR
Stream B: Assistant in Nursing (AIN). AINs work in high care facilities and provide assistance and nursing care to clients with an unstable health status.

An outline of the course structure is at Attachment A for information.

Support materials
Training Plans and Record Books are available for distribution from Field Services and Skills Recognition.

Industrial arrangements
are in place through the Nurses (Private Sector) Training Wage (State) Award and Private Hospitals, Aged Care and Disability Services Industry (Training) (State) Award. Both awards include part-time traineeship provisions and school-based provisions only in the case of the Private Hospitals Award.

For any enquiries regarding this CIB, please contact the Vocational Training Tribunal Unit on (02) 9266 8579.

JILL GIENTZOTIS

Director of Recognition Services