Certainly the casualisation of nursing Assistants, Enrolled Nurses and RNs in Aged Care goes some way to explaining why nursing homes rapidly become clusters of infection.
General and Mental Health is a different story.
Certainly casualisation has impacted many occupational sectors, I'm well aware that its not only the health sector. There are many businesses today who don't have any permanent employees, even though many work regular days/hours. Casualisation is an abrogation of an employers responsibilities to adequate remunerate their employees.
This is also a WorkSafe issue as many workers don't have sufficient regular employment to have adequate ability to have leave and so over-work becomes a bigger issue. This then leads to poor work practices, inconsistency in the workplace and increased workplace injuries/accidents. Casual employment may benefit the employer's bottom line in one way, but it also reduces productivity and QA.
@BAU... I could go on about this issue for hours and I don't intend to be boring. I worked casual for around half my career and was able to make good money - but like you, my skills were in strong demand. But the overall impact on workers and employers is significant and damaging to the economy on the whole. Sure, there can be options for people to work however it suits them, but to have the majority of your employees working casual is, in health care, destructive to employee health and patient care.
