No more double shifts or night duty: how AINs and ENs build calm, one-to-one work of their own

Same skills. No night duty, no double shifts. Hours that are yours.

If that's you, here it is straight: what the work actually involves, what it pays, what it costs to set up, and how to start — from someone running the same business, part-time, in regional Tasmania.

1. Out of the rush

A hospital or a facility runs on throughput — the bell, the handover, another person to see every few minutes, and a shift that never slows down. This work is the same skills at a human pace. You finish one thing before you start the next. You sit down.

2. No night duty, no double shifts

You set the hours: school hours, mornings, three days a week — and not a public holiday unless you want it. No rotating roster, no shift swaps, no twelve-hour nights, and nobody else deciding what your week looks like.

3. Honest about the money

Nursing wages are real money — penalties, paid leave, super, security. This isn't automatically more than that, and I won't pretend otherwise. What the funded items pay is this: everyday support bills at $60.10 an hour for household tasks and $73.58 for community and social participation on a weekday — and personal care, which your qualification covers, is $73.58 on a weekday daytime and $103.54 on a Saturday.

Those are billing rates, gross, before insurance, tax, super, travel and your own unpaid admin. Whether it beats your current package depends on your roster, your penalties and how many hours you can fill. It's worth running your own numbers — your accountant will know better than I do. What it is, is your hours, your pace, and nobody rostering you.

4. You already hold the qualification

An AIN or an EN can offer personal care as well as everyday support — showering, dressing, medication prompts, manual handling — which is exactly what most people starting out can't. It needs its own insurance, and it sits outside the everyday-support business I teach, but it's real work you're already qualified for, billed at the higher personal-care rates.

5. An easier start than it looks

An ABN, public liability insurance, a police check, a current first aid certificate and an NDIS Worker Screening Check — and no training needed to begin. Keep your shifts and take on one client. You don't have to choose on day one, and you don't have to burn anything down to start.

Where to go next

Being straight with you. The hourly figures on this page are the billing rates from the official NDIS Pricing Schedule — the most that can be charged for that support. They're gross revenue, not take-home. Insurance, tax, super, travel and your own time all come out of it. And the income examples are Cathy's real numbers, not a promise about yours.

One thing to keep straight. The rates above are for everyday support. Personal care is priced separately, and your nursing qualification already covers you for it.

The free training is below — the honest version of how this works, in plain language. It's free, and it stays free.