Aged care leader says Govt package ignored workers in aged care

Aged Care Association of Australia,  chief executive officer, Rod Young, said that the Federal Government’s $10 billion economic stimulus package ignored workers in aged care.

“What would it have cost for Government to fund a pay increase for the 200,000 people who work in aged care to give them a reasonable wage?” Mr Young asked.

“The Productivity Commission in a recent report to the Government accepted that paying aged care staff the same as acute hospital staff would cost approximately $450m.”

He said by including aged care staff in the package, the Government would in part at least, have addressed some of the alarming findings announced in the Report released yesterday by Grant Thornton, which analyses the aged care industry’s financial status for the previous financial year.

The Grant Thornton Report found aged care providers are now making 1.1% return on investment, which means no aged care provider can afford to build new facilities in the future.

Mr Young said his members say that while they will complete any building work currently in the pipeline, they cannot commit to much needed building programs until financial reform makes it economically viable.

“This is at a time when the Productivity Commission estimates that aged care capacity will need to expand by four times its current size over the next twenty five years if expected demand by 2030 has any chance of being satisfied,” said Mr Young.

“The data confirms what providers have been saying for some years – the industry is rapidly facing a financial crisis,’’ Mr Young said.

“A combination of tight Government regulation and increasing consumer expectations now fundamentally threaten industry sustainability.

“How many in our community understand that the Federal Government controls all funding levels, allocates all places and sets all fees?

“Our aged care industry is not the master of its own destiny.”