Aged care about people, not numbers
Australia’s Aged Care Industry Council (ACIC) has expressed disappointment at the Federal Government’s continued defence of its aged care funding program.
ACIC represents more than 95% of Australia’s aged care providers in the church, charitable and privately owned sectors, through Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) and the Aged Care Association Australia (ACAA).
ACSA chief executive officer (CEO), Greg Mundy, said it was time for the Government to acknowledge that fundamental change was required for the aged-care sector to properly provide for older Australians now, and into the future.
“The Minister has again referred to $41.6 billion in aged and community care funding over the next four years,” Mr Mundy said. “It is an impressive figure but sadly not a figure which corresponds with the actual costs of providing aged care.”
ACAA CEO, Rod Young, said the Government was calculating an average cost for individual aged care.
“Of course in reality, those costs vary dramatically according to the individual,” Mr Young said. “The Government has acknowledged that older Australians requiring high care should receive $168 a day. But even that payment has been staggered and will not be fully realised for another two years.”
Messrs Mundy and Young said they did not want to squabble with the Government on a matter as important as aged care.
“We do want the Government to recognise the complexity of the aged care industry; the range of services and costs involved in caring for individuals with varying needs,” they said.
“We need to ensure a consistent income stream to properly fund aged care, in all its forms. Together, as an industry, a government, a community, we have to be creative about how we achieve that goal.
“We can all cite statistics to support our arguments but in reality we are talking about people, older Australians. They are not statistics, or numbers, and they need to be supported with appropriate funding. We need to work with the Government to find a solution for sustainable funding and we need to do it now.”
