Aged care sector surrounded by red tape
Commissioner Robert Fitzgerald told the Aged and Community Care Victoria (ACCV) State Congress that the Productivity Commission inquiry was designed to promote the interests of consumers.
“We are not starting from the perspective of what is good for governments or what is good for providers but what is good for ageing Australians,” he said.
He also said the aged care sector has too much red tape.
“It’s already clear to us that the regulatory burden in the aged care system is disproportionate,” he said.
“The regulation in this sector is greater than the regulation required for running a hospital – the reason is that we no longer understand risk. We are not good at understanding risk; at assessing it, managing it and ultimately financing it.”
Mr Fitzgerald said aged care regulation tends to be driven by short-term political objectives with few real benefits for consumers and unintended consequences for providers.
“The real problem in aged care is that regulatory reform is driven by high profile incidents that attract public criticism,” said the Commissioner.
“These incidents create a political risk for the government and its response is to introduce new regulation which doesn’t necessarily improve quality.
“Many inquiries in this area have looked at aged care purely from a financing point of view so it’s important to start by looking at the needs and aspirations of older Australians.”
Submissions to the inquiry must be received by 30 July and the Commission will release a draft report in December. It will hand the final report to the Federal Government in April next year.
