Bed allocations announced

Posted December 9th 2010

by DPS

The announcement the industry has been awaiting has finally been made.

Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, announced the new places which have been allocated across Australia in the 2009-10 Aged Care Approvals Round.

Australia’s older people will gain 12,272 new aged care places, worth more than $450 million a year.

“Older Australians will benefit from 5,643 new residential aged care places – more than 60% of them high care places,” Mr Butler said.

The new places comprise:

5,643 new residential aged care places;
2,408 new Community Aged Care Packages (CACP);
2,714 new Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) packages; and
1,507 new EACH Dementia packages (EACH D)

“This builds on more than a quarter of a million aged care places already allocated across Australia as at 30 June this year,” Mr Butler said.

“In addition, the Gillard Labor Government will provide the sector $147 million in zero-real-interest loans to build 819 places, and more than $41.6 million in capital grants.”

The grants include $4 million towards building a new, 80-bed facility – including 44 beds for older homeless people, in Wamuran near Caboolture in Queensland.

A further $2.4 million is being allocated as Community and Flexible Care Grants to establish or expand community and flexible services in rural and remote areas and for groups with special needs.

In response, industry group Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) chief executive officer, Greg Mundy, said the conversion of more than 2,500 aged care beds into community care places indicated that unless urgent action is taken to improve the economics of residential care, the beds we will need to meet the needs of our ageing population will not be built.

“Today’s announcement by the Minister of 5,643 new residential places (105 fewer than last year) falls well short of even the Department’s estimation of new beds and new investment to meet demand in the future,” Mr Mundy said.

“Some 8,140 beds were available in this round of allocations. The reality is 5,643 bed licences. Only Victoria and South Australia took up the planned allocation.

“The 2,500 extra community care places will be integral to delivering the breadth of services to meet older Australian’s needs but for a second year running they have been allocated at the expense of residential beds, not in addition.”

Details of approved providers and their allocations can be found at http://www.health.gov.au/acar2009-10