Aged Care Reform - It's Time 8 Aug 2011

Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) has welcomed today’s release by the Productivity Commission of its report “Caring for Older Australians.”

ACSA CEO Patrick McClure said that the Productivity Commission had made it clear that now was the time for the Government to embrace reform.

“The case for reform is clear, ACSA therefore urges the Federal Government to show leadership on this issue and to make the hard decisions about aged care reform in Australia,” Mr McClure said.

Mr McClure said reform is urgently required to ensure that the system can accommodate increased demand for aged care services into the future. Currently over 1 million older people use community care services. Even on current estimates by 2020 this figure will grow to over 1.4 million. Similarly, by 2020 an extra 82,000 new aged care beds will be required.

“These beds and community support services need to be planned for now; however, to enable this the right funding model also needs to be put in place,” Mr McClure said.

“It currently costs about $200,000 to build an aged care bed, but at present the funds required are simply not in the system.

“What we need is a scheme in which the people who can afford to contribute to the cost of their care and accommodation, do so. Equally important though is to ensure that a safety net is in place to assist older people who cannot afford to pay.

“Without the right funding mix, Australia won’t have the aged care services they need. However, ACSA believes that the recommendations made by the Productivity Commission around  funding models will deliver more choice and more control for older people entering care.  The funding models must also ensure sustainable community and residential services.”

Mr McClure cautioned the Government to be mindful of the fact that any solutions will be based on a package of measures which will only work if implemented in concert with each other.

Mr McClure added that it was important to recognise that different arrangements would also be needed to ensure that Australians living in regional, rural and remote communities would have access to services they need in their local area.

“ACSA  looks forward to working with Government to ensure that the reform is implemented.  The Productivity Commission has provided the plan, it’s now time for action,” he said.