Following weeks, months and probably years of shameful stories in the media about mistreatment of our mums and dads in aged care homes, the Governor General His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd), formally established the Royal Commission into Aged Care this week.
We believe it is good news. It is a discussion we in the community have to have.
The Governor-General appointed not one but two Commissioners and he has given them 12 months to conduct the enquiry and deliver their first report (31 October 2019 – while the final report will be submitted on 30 April 2020, 18 months from now).
By comparison the Banking Royal Commission (which included investment advisers, insurance and superannuation, on top of banking) has one Commissioner and the first report was submitted after 10 months.
The Commissioners selected and this timeframe demonstrates the Government is serious.
The enquiry will be led by West Australian Supreme Court Judge Honourable Justice Joseph McGrath and the former Chief Executive of Medicare and Australian Public Service Commissioner, Ms Lynelle Briggs AO.
They are serious appointments and good news because what we need is real change.
Time is the problem
As we have covered here, it is clear that the system is not working – in aged care homes and the delivery of home care.
We have over 300,000 passionate and skilled workers. We have amongst the best physical aged care homes in the world. We have rules and regulations.
What we don’t have is the funding to pay for more quality hours to care and support residents and home care clients.
The respected StewartBrown benchmark survey of 500-plus aged care homes show that each resident receives an average of just three hours’ attention per day. See the chart. This includes making beds, delivering medication and so on.
There is no time for quality time. Carers have to be ‘efficient’, which has little room for personal touch.
An aged care home is just that, the residents’ home. Yet they can be alone for 12 to 15 hours a day with little interaction. This is distressing.
Equally the staff are under pressure to get their jobs done with residents with constantly changing and often complex needs. This is stressful and some do break.
The only way to provide more quality time is to employ more staff. The challenge is wages already account for around 70 per cent of all aged care costs and few aged care operators are making even reasonable profits.
There is no fat in the system. To add one hour of care per day per resident will add 20 per cent or $2.5 billion a year in costs or $7 million a day. With the rapid growth in our ageing population the government can only afford this if it increases taxes. This is not politically palatable.
We will have to pay more
It is inevitable that we will have to pay more for our own care, and shouldn’t we be responsible for our family members and ourselves?
This is the discussion the community has to have through this Royal Commission. What level of care we want and how much we are prepared to pay for it.
Of course, there are frail, older Australians that do not have the wealth to pay for their care and we have a responsibility for them too. This also needs to be discussed.
Rebuilding trust
The Commission will also be critical to re-establishing trust in the sector.
We need to have faith in the system and know that our loved ones will be treated with dignity and respect – without exception.
The cases highlighted in the media are isolated incidents and the majority of residents receive quality care every day from carers who are committed and passionate about the work that they do.
Let’s hope that the Commission is successful in having a discussion with us all and we recognise our responsibility to fund and build a sustainable, respectful and deeply caring service for our mums and dads.
