Opposition says Government gets powerful wake up call on ageing
Shadow Minister for Ageing Margaret May says the recent report from the Office of Aged Care Quality and Compliance was a powerful wake up call to the Government.
She said the report, which highlighted a sharp increase in the number of cases of abuse and mistreatment of Australia’s elderly, was disturbing and the tripling of reported breaches of care demonstrated that aged care facilities were under pressure and feeling the impact of understaffing.
“Because of the demands placed on staff, the checks and balances to ensure the safety and wellbeing of older Australians was being overlooked in some instances.
“The average age of those living in aged care homes is 82 years. Many are frail and vulnerable and require a high standard of care.
“Pressures are continuing to mount in the sector and the Government must step in to reassure aged care facilities that there will be no cut to funding to aged care in the forthcoming Budget.
“I urge the Government to commit to the Conditional Adjustment Subsidy now otherwise the care of older Australians will be compromised, aged care facilities will close and jobs will be lost and the care of older Australians would be seriously compromised.
“The subsidy was introduced in 2004 to assist aged care providers keep pace with escalating costs as funding to the aged care industry did not reflect the real costs faced by the industry.
“The current Government has made no commitment to the subsidy and the aged care industry is concerned that this funding initiative will lapse unless steps are taken in the Budget to fund the continuance of the initiative beyond 30 June 2008.
“As the report by the Office of Aged Care Quality and Compliance demonstrates, the aged care industry simply cannot sustain a cut in funding.
“Already 40% of residential aged care providers are operating in the red and all sectors of the industry are trending steeply downwards with the financial position of aged care entities deteriorating steeply,” she concluded.
