The independent Commission, announced by Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt this week, will start from 1 January 2019 and see all of our aged care agencies including the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency and the Aged Care Complaints Commissioner under the one organisation.
The changes, recommended by the Federal Government’s review commissioned after last year’s Oakden scandal in South Australia, will also see a new performance rating against the Government’s quality standards for aged care homes and a provider comparison tool added to the My Aged Care website.
There will also be a new Serious Incident Response Scheme which will investigate major complaints and illness outbreaks in aged care homes.
All welcome initiatives designed to prevent more of the failures that we have seen highlighted in the media recently.
But while we agree having a single point of contact will make it easier for residents and their families to raise any issues, we question this focus on one agency to ‘fix’ everything.
Show me the money
Good quality care is of course central to supporting our older Australians, but there is little point in having high standards if the sector is not funded properly.
I was reading data this week that our personal carer and assistant workforce will need to increase by 33 per cent in the next five years – that’s over 90,000 extra workers.
But it’s also the job predicted to have the most vacancies – and we can see why. Pay is low and as we covered here, most aged care services are struggling to stay viable and cannot afford to pay more to staff.
The home care packages program is also in trouble with over 100,000 people currently on the waiting list, half receiving care at levels below what they need.
The Government is promising an aged care package in the Federal Budget. We hope it delivers – otherwise who will care for us and our loved ones?
