Over the past several years I have written often on how much funding I believe the aged care sector has been short-changed by a range of political and bureaucratic decisions over. Aged care funding is not adequate to meet the health care needs of Australia’s frail elderly, vulnerable, care recipients. My comments apply across residential aged care funding and home/community care package funding alike. You can review some of my previous articles in the footnotes below. [1] [2]
Patricia Sparrow, Chief Executive of the not-profit aged care peak body Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA), commentating recently on home care packages, lamented the lack of preparedness and capability of our aged care system, saying “Until we see adequate long-term planning for the structural and funding issues, Australia won’t be able to fully address the needs of older Australians”.[3] Sean Rooney, Chief Executive of Leading Aged Services Australia, similarly recently commented that the “aged care system needs adequate funding to be sustainable and meet the needs of seniors” and called for an additional $3 billion to “improve the viability of the sector”.[4]
Just this week I was briefed about the outcomes of a very recent Faster Horses Inside Aged Care Report (2019) of perceptions around aged care in Australia. I recommend this review to all readers of this blog. Reviewing response from over 1,500 people from a cross section of metropolitan centres, the response to two specific questions piqued my interest.
Continue reading “The Truth Is Out There!”