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Aged Care – The Way Forward

 

Shane Neaves, CEO Peninsula Village, and Matt Downie, CEO BlueWave Living, wish to highlight to the broader community the urgent need for the Federal Government to respond to the key recommendations as outlined in the Royal Commission.

 

“We are urging the Federal Government to adopt a 15-point plan to ensure older Australians get the most benefit in the quickest time from an improved aged care system.” said Shane Neaves, “It is a matter of prioritising these recommendations for the immediate benefit of our Elders, who deserve a first class Aged Care system”, Matt Downie says.

 

We at Peninsula Village and BlueWave Living urge the community to support the campaign by the Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC), which represents more than 1,000 aged care providers, with its release this week of a formal response to the final report Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.

 

Called Aged care – the way forward, the AACC report calls on the Government to produce a timetable in the Federal Budget on 11 May which sets out immediate steps to improve the delivery of aged care services in 15 key areas within the follow groupings:

  • Human rights, access and choice – a new rights-based Aged Care Act by July 2023
  • Workforce – increased wages, training, and clinical placements
  • Transparency – improved accountability and by December 2022
  • Sustainability – commitment to greater funding of aged care sector

 

“It is no secret that Australia spends less than half of what comparable nations do on aged care – 1.2 per cent of GDP compared to 2.5 per cent on average in other countries.” Matt Downie said, “This is a significant disparity between us and other countries in how we fund Aged Care” Shane Neaves continued.

 

Shane Neaves said aged care providers support the need for an overhaul of the aged care sector and the need for more transparency and accountability, including a wider range of clinical indicators, a star rating performance system, reporting of staff care hours, reporting of service level financial data to an independent pricing authority and stronger prudential regulations.

 

“We support the call by the Australian Aged Care Collaboration that the Government needs to include a detailed roadmap for longer term reform as well as an indication on how age care will be funded in the future and how that change will occur,” Matt Downie says.

 

“Aged care providers need a clear statement from Government on longer term reform plans as well as a timetable to implement these immediate changes so that we can have some certainty for the community, for older people and our residents, and for our staff.”

 

Shane Neaves said the Royal Commission final report presents a once in a generation opportunity for real change in how we deliver aged care services to older Australians and a change to further improve their quality of life and wellbeing.

 

Peninsula Village and BlueWave Living are supporters of the Australian Aged Care Collaboration.

The plan, ‘Aged Care – The Way Forward’, is available here.