Industry responds to federal Budget

Ian Yates, chief executive of seniors advocate, COTA Australia, says the changes in home care were a significant step towards an NDIS style model for aged care and great news for older people and their families. Currently, the funds for older people’s home care packages are given to aged care service providers rather than the older person directly. This will change from February 2017.

“This is an important initiative by the federal government and one that older people and the sector have been calling for over a number of years. Giving funding directly to the person in need of support allows that person to have much greater choice about what kinds of support best suit their needs and circumstances, who will provide it, and how,” Mr Yates says.

“This will result in more older people being able to stay in their homes longer as they age because the services they purchase will more closely match their needs. It will reduce current inefficiencies in which people take a service because it is the only thing on offer, rather than one that is tailored to support them,” he adds.

It will also drive up the quality of service provision as older people will be able to shop around for the best provider to meet their particular needs and will be able to move from one provider to another if they are not satisfied with the service being provided, he claims.

Mr Yates also welcomes the decision to combine the Commonwealth Home Support and Home Care Packages Programs.

“Combining these two programs will ensure older people have a much simpler and smoother process to access care and again have more control over what support they receive,” he says.

“It will also result in higher quality service provision as service providers adapt and change to meet the needs of their clients and have less red tape to deal with.”

Privatisation of aged care accreditation

Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), the voice of age services, also welcomes the benefits to older Australians in last night’s federal Budget, particularly in regard to the privatisation of aged care accreditation. LASA believes quality, consumer choice and innovation will flourish as a result.

“The number of Australians relying on age services is growing by the day. Change is needed urgently but regulation has been standing in the way of innovation,” says Patrick Reid, LASA chief executive.

“The age services industry needs innovation to drive competition, improve quality standards and give consumers more options. Experience has shown that consumer choice cannot be regulated,” Mr Reid says.

“As the voice of age services, LASA has lobbied hard for the removal of this red tape. We firmly believe the independent provision of accreditation services in aged care will lead to improved services for our ageing population,” he adds.

However, Mr Reid claims the 15% cut to the workforce development funds may jeopardise innovation and put quality at risk.

“It is our workforce that underpins quality and innovation in age services, and the impact of changes to the not for profit employment benefits along with a reduction in the workforce development funds cannot be ignored,” he says.

The age services workforce is already under immense pressure and needs to triple in size by 2042 to ensure that all older Australians have access to essential services in a timely and dignified manner. Almost half of the age services workforce will retire in the next 15 years, while the number of people requiring these services is increasing exponentially, Mr Reid claims.

“We view these accreditation changes as a significant win for LASA members and will continue to work with stakeholders to further reduce the red tape that is hampering innovation and quality in other areas of the industry,” he says.

Making it ‘harder’ to recruit staff

Among the raft of announcements about the next round of aged care changes, Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) is disappointed the government capped the Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT) meal and entertainment concession at $5,000 as a tax saving, rather than considering the policy issue as part of the government’s broader taxation reform.

“In the aged care sector, the vast majority of those who access this benefit are lower income care staff and most utilise the FBT benefit at very small levels,” says Adjunct Professor John Kelly, ACSA chief executive.

“This was a significant benefit in the not for profit aged care sector and setting the cap so low will make it harder to recruit staff at a time when we need to significantly increase the aged care workforce. Based on projections for service growth just in the next eight years alone, it is estimated that there will need to be an additional 55,770 aged care workers needed during this short period,” Adjunct Professor Kelly claims.

“For a government committed to workforce initiatives and support, this decision is short sighted. To wipe $40 million off Workforce Strategy forward estimates seems like poor policy when 55,770 additional employees are required over the next eight years,” he adds.

‘Mixed bag’ in Budget for people with dementia

Carol Bennett, Alzheimer’s Australia chief executive, says: “In the area of aged care and social services, funding of $73.7 million over four years for Home Care Packages that aim to increase consumer control, choice and flexibility through enhanced Consumer Directed Care (CDC) is welcome. There is still work to be done to ensure that these measures deliver on that promise by ensuring choice of providers, affordability and access to specialty dementia services.”

Alzheimer’s Australia welcomes an integrated plan to support carers who often provide care to people with dementia including investment in a Carers Gateway of $33.7 million over four years for access, information, support and referral to carer specific supports and services.

An increase in short term restorative care places from 4,000 to 6,000, funded from savings from the aged care planning ratio, will enable more people to move between residential aged care and the community.

“While we welcome support that enables people to live in the community with dementia, it is important that this does not come at the expense of other aged care places,” Ms Bennett says.

Ms Bennett confirms Alzheimer’s Australia is pleased to see the government recognise the importance of dementia specific services, but is concerned about the impact that the broader cut to this program will have on the sector’s capacity to provide quality of care.

Alzheimer’s Australia also holds concerns regarding a reduction to the Aged Care Workforce Fund (now the Aged Care Workforce Development Fund) of $40.2 million over four years for better targeting of aged care development support.

“It is important that the aged care workforce is better supported to meet the growing demands that will present in the coming years for dementia care. We do not want to see a reduction in the quality of life for people impacted by dementia through poor training of staff and a lack of focus on dementia specific approaches.

“It is paramount that programs that make a huge difference to the quality of care for people with dementia such as Dementia Care Essentials (funded through this program stream) are not only maintained but enhanced to meet demand.”