Eroding trust between providers and residents
A Sydney based academic has made a number of unsubstantiated claims about the recent aged care reforms on ABC radio and ABC online, according to national aged care body, Aged & Community Services Australia (ACSA).
Adjunct Professor John Kelly, Aged & Community Services Australia chief executive, claims unsubstantiated scaremongering unreasonably erodes the trust that exists between providers and residents.
Adjunct Professor John G Kelly, AM, ACSA chief executive, described the claims as “inaccurate” and “outrageous”.
Dr Maree Bernoth, the Charles Sturt University academic, reportedly claimed that the 1 July 2014 aged care reforms would not lift industry standards and that funds should be specifically targeted to areas of need, such as accreditation monitoring.
She also expressed concern that proprietors were claiming the ‘extra’ money would be used to refurbish facilities.
According to Adjunct Professor Kelly, Dr Bernoth claims were ill-informed as care subsidies and accommodation contributions were entirely “separate issues”.
“It is appropriate for providers to use accommodation contributions to support the material improvement of facilities. Dr Bernoth claims, without substantiation, that care subsidies are used in this regard. This is clearly an outrageous accusation without providing evidence to this effect,” Adjunct Professor Kelly said.
Australia’s aged care system changed significantly on 1 July 2014, with many people now expected to make a higher level of financial contribution toward the cost of care and accommodation.
Dr Bernoth also called for an overhaul of the accreditation and monitoring standards in the aged care sector, amid fears abuse in the industry would worsen.
The Aged Care Complaints Scheme now sits within the Department of Social Services and, according to the Report on the Operation of the Aged Care Act 2012-13, the Department issued 17 Notices of Decision to Impose Sanctions to 14 approved providers during that reporting year.
“It should be noted there are more than 1,200 providers across the country. This is shoddy research and trashy journalism,” Adjunct Professor Kelly said.
“In an industry where 250,000 older Australians are cared for 365 days a year, the official government figures in Financial Year 2012/13 of 50 Non Compliance Notices to 2,700 facilities represents compliance with Standard rates of 98.1%.
“The Australian community deserves better from its purported academics and journalists. This unsubstantiated scaremongering unreasonably erodes the trust that exists uniformly across the age care sector between providers and their residents,” he said.
