More aged care beds needed in ACT says COTA

The Council on the Ageing (COTA) believes more residential aged care facilities in the ACT could help alleviate much of the pressure on waiting lists.

An ACT Auditor-General’s report has revealed that aged care patients in Canberra are having to wait twice as long as the national average to have an assessment. It also found that the ACT was slow at converting Commonwealth aged care places into operational beds.

ACT COTA executive director, Paul Flint, said the key was to open more facilities and that there should be a wider review of the aged care system to complement the Auditor-General’s report.

“They’ve only looked at a small segment of whole service and that’s the intake or the beginning process,” he said.

ACT Health Minister Katy Gallagher said the report highlighted areas that needed improvement. She said in the past, the assessment team had been affected by staff shortages.

Ms Gallager said land shortages were also behind the bottlenecks in the system. She said there had been delays in releasing land but these should be resolved soon.

“There’s over 600 beds to be activated over the next 12 months,” she said.