Calls for cost of care study
The aged care sector is supportive of better wages and training for staff, but the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) has failed to acknowledge in its media statement yesterday that the $1.2 billion for the government’s Workforce Supplement is in fact money redirected from care funding for residents.
The aged care sector is supportive of better wages and training for staff, but the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) has failed to acknowledge in its media statement yesterday that the $1.2 billion for the government’s Workforce Supplement is in fact money redirected from care funding for residents.
Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) chief executive, Professor John Kelly, said: “The Workforce Supplement was indeed discussed at length in consultation with the unions and aged care providers. But, it was never agreed to by providers because we didn’t support it being locked into industrial processes and believed the funding should only be provided through a direct arrangement with the government for employers to then pass on to employees.”
He claimed the ANF had “missed the point” of ACSA’s recent discussion on ABC’s Lateline program, which was on the broader funding for the care of residents. Wages and conditions for employees is one component of that issue, Professor Kelly added.
“The debate we should be having is how we determine the true costs of delivering care. We have been calling on the government for a very long time to undertake an independent Cost of Care Study and develop a baseline for real funding. Only then we will know how much it actually costs to deliver quality care and better wages and conditions.
“With the ageing of Australia’s population and many more people requiring aged care services we need to know how much it actually costs to deliver care services and have those services funded accordingly.”
He called for the community to start having a debate on how much it was willing to pay for aged care whether through taxation or user contributions.
“In particular we need to be supporting those small stand alone aged care facilities in rural, remote and regional areas and those who look after CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) and Indigenous communities and the homeless who have much higher overheads and lower income and often struggle financially.”
