‘Face up to’ NT aged care woes
Providing care to elderly people in the Northern Territory is more difficult than servicing seniors in other states because many live in remote communities, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, has heard.
Providing care to elderly people in the Northern Territory is more difficult than servicing seniors in other states because many live in remote communities, Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, has heard.
About 70 seniors voiced their concerns to Mr Butler who was in Darwin last Friday (9 September 2011), where elderly Territorians claimed they faced problems in finding workers to help them in old age.
During the past five years, the number of people aged over 65 years living in the Northern Territory has risen by more than one third.
“With remote locations outside of Darwin or Alice Springs, there are particular issues associated with the needs of indigenous Australians too, who want to be cared for by their own skin group or language group, who want to die in the country and not be removed to a hospital somewhere,” Mr Butler told AAP.
He also said there were some challenges about service delivery that “we need to face up to”.
According to Mr Butler, many people across the nation raised similar concerns as those seniors living in Darwin. One stand-out concern which Mr Butler recounted was older people’s desire to live independently at home for as long as possible.
Death was another common concern among the nation’s seniors. “A discussion I am getting across the country is people wanting to have more control over the circumstances of their death,” Mr Butler recalled.
The minister’s public appearance in Darwin was part of the many nationwide conversations following the release of the Productivity Commission report into aged care early last month.
If you live in the Northern Territory, share your thoughts on the availability of aged care in rural and remote areas of Australia.
