Aged care funding needs more scrutiny – Australian Nursing Federation

The Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) welcomed the news that the Federal Government is planning a crackdown on the use of accommodation bonds by aged care providers.

Ged Kearney, ANF national secretary, said moves by the Federal Government to increase provider accountability through greater levels of reporting were a good first step in ensuring aged care consumers received high quality care.

However, Ms Kearney called on the Government to go further and institute mechanisms that ensure openness and accountability in the way all public funds are spent in aged care.

“At the moment we know huge amounts of public money are poured into aged care, but we don’t know how it is spent,” she said.

“The Minister for Ageing, Justine Elliott, should put in place mechanisms to assess where the funding goes and whether the amount of funding is adequate for the care required by older Australians in nursing homes”.

“What we desperately need is more nursing staff, the right mix of worker skills across the aged care sector, and of course, greater accountability for funding,” she said.