Fight for Fair Aged Care
Catholic Homes and Baptistcare are raising their voices to highlight the effect the $1.2 billion cuts will have to people in aged care. Together the aged care providers have launched the campaign ‘Fight for Fair Aged Care’, urging Australians to contact their local MP in protest of the aged care cuts.
Catholic Homes and Baptistcare have launced the campaign 'Fight for Fair Aged Care' to highlight the effect the aged care cuts will have to people in aged care.
The cuts affect the level of funding with the Aged Care Funding Instrument’s (ACFI) high complex care spectrum for new residents or for those resident’s whose needs have changed.
High complex care relates to older Australians who can have multiple diseases of ageing and the need for additional levels of nursing care. From 1 January 2017, the vast majority of people are classified as having complex health needs will be downgraded to having medium to low care needs, resulting in less funding.
Catholic Homes chief executive officer (CEO), Sonya Smart says the change to this end of the funding spectrum is cause for great concern, not only for those older people in aged care but for those entering into aged care in the coming years.
“I believe in equity of health care but these changes mean providers will no longer receive the funding necessary to meet the needs of our older people who have chronic complex health needs,” according to Ms Smart.
“Currently a person with these needs receives $66 funding per day for the additional care required to manage their chronic health, after 1 January 2017 it will be reduced to just $16 per day.”
The cuts will see vulnerable elderly people who cannot afford to supplement the government funding being refused places in aged care and being pushed into the hospital system or having limited care in their homes.
“My worry is there will be a point where taking someone into care with these needs won’t be a financially viable decision, resulting in many painful and premature deaths in our community,” Ms Smart says.
Baptistcare CEO, Reverend Dr Lucy Morris says elderly Australians deserve and are entitled to respect care, a quality life while they are alive, and a dignified death.
She says the decisions being made by our politicians to reduce funding for clinical care, and the successive years of constant funding cuts to aged care services, unacceptably reduce the quality of people’s lives in the last stages.
“This is not good enough and not acceptable to us as a country and diminishes us as human beings.
“The Fight for Fair Aged Care campaign needs everyone’s support and we need to raise our voices loudly in our communities to fight for this just cause,” Rev. Dr. Morris urges.
To support the ‘Fight for Fair Aged Care’ campaign, go to fightforagedcare.com.au, to send a letter to your local MP.
