Big changes in aged care

More than 14,000 new aged care places will be offered across Australia for 2012-13, as part of implementing the federal government’s $3.7 billion aged care reform plan, Living Longer Living Better.

Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, said the new places provided through the Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR) would significantly boost the capacity of the aged care system in Australia.

To encourage greater investment in areas of need, the federal government is also making available up to $51 million in capital grants under the Rural, Regional and Other Special Needs Building Fund and more than $150 million in Zero Real Interest Loans.

Announced in April, Living Longer Living Better detailed a 10 year plan to create a bigger, stronger and more flexible system that provides older Australians with more choice, control and easier access to a full range of services.

Mr Butler said the plan includes individually tailored packages of home care services to help older Australians remain living independently in their own home.

“This is part of a major expansion in home care services which will see the number of packages more than doubled over the next 10 years, from about 60,000 to about 140,000,” he said.

There will also reportedly be an extra 65,000 residential aged care places provided over the next 10 years.

“We’re also putting consumers more squarely in control of the services they receive through Consumer Directed Care,” Mr Butler added.

All new Home Care Packages in this year’s ACAR must be offered to consumers on a Consumer Directed Care basis, and from July 2015 all packages, including pre-existing packages, will be Consumer Directed.

Consumer Directed Care delivers services that allow consumers and their carers to have greater control over their own lives by allowing them to make choices about the types of care they access, including who will deliver the services and when.

For the first time, the federal government will also be offering two new levels of Home Care Package – a new ‘Level 1’ Package for people with basic needs and a new ‘Level 3’ Package for people with intermediate needs.

From 1 July 2013, four levels of Home Care Package will be available, with the aim of providing older people with a seamless continuum of options for home care ranging from basic care needs all the way through to low, intermediate and high care needs.

Mr Butler said the first tranche of new Consumer Directed Care Home Care Packages would showcase the potential of Consumer Directed Care to deliver better care for consumers, and test the effectiveness of the new levels of Home Care Packages.

“Any lessons learned will be used to refine the new arrangements before they are applied across all Home Care Packages, new and pre-existing, from July 2015,” he said.

The 2012-13 Extra Service Approvals Round is being run in conjunction with the 2012-13 ACAR meaning applicants have the opportunity to apply for Extra Service Status in respect of existing or new residential aged care places.

The Invitation to Apply for the new places, loans and grants appeared in major national and regional newspapers on Saturday. Applications will close on Friday, 21 December 2012.

More information about the 2012-13 Aged Care Approvals Round, with application forms and supporting materials, were made available from Saturday on the Department of Health and Ageing website.