The Retirement Living Council (RLC) is calling on the Australian Government to implement urgent home care reforms, following new data revealing that the number of Australians approved for a home care package but waiting to access funding has more than doubled over the past 12 months, now exceeding 68,000.
RLC Executive Director Daniel Gannon emphasized the strain on the care system will only increase, as the number of Australians over 75 is set to rise from 2 million to 3.4 million by 2040. "The aged care system is breaking under the weight of ever-increasing demand," Mr Gannon said.
Despite the government's recent Budget announcement that it would fund an extra 24,100 home care packages in FY25, the growing demand for services and reduction in home care providers has led to older Australians waiting up to a year to receive urgent support to continue living safely at home.
Mr Gannon stated that the admission by the Department of Health and Aged Care representatives means "68,000 older Australians have had their quality of life diminished, and they are not receiving the support they need to age in place with dignity."
He called for the policy approach to home care to reflect the willingness shown by the privately funded retirement living sector to help fight against the aged care crisis. The RLC's Shared Care framework, submitted to the Australian Government ahead of the Budget, finds that retirement villages could help make the delivery of home care almost 20 per cent more efficient, while saving the commonwealth $100 million annually.
"This framework could help ensure that older Australians receive more care per dollar invested, while saving the government money, so it is a win-win," Mr Gannon said. The 'shared care' approach would provide three models for retirement village operators to deliver community-based care services under the Support at Home program within the village setting, either independently or through a delivery partner.
These models, according to Mr Gannon, have been developed to show that significant efficiencies and savings to consumers and government can be achieved, even at moderate levels of uptake, with no cost to government. This is due to retirement villages providing scale for delivering these services efficiently and cost-effectively by reducing travel costs incurred by service providers, increasing the frequency of service delivery, and enhancing the quality and suite of services by leveraging those already in place at these communities.
The Retirement Living Council (RLC) is calling on the Australian Government to implement urgent home care reforms, following new data revealing that the number of Australians approved for a home care package but waiting to access funding has more than doubled over the past 12 months, now exceeding 68,000.
RLC Executive Director Daniel Gannon emphasized the strain on the care system will only increase, as the number of Australians over 75 is set to rise from 2 million to 3.4 million by 2040. "The aged care system is breaking under the weight of ever-increasing demand," Mr Gannon said.
Despite the government's recent Budget announcement that it would fund an extra 24,100 home care packages in FY25, the growing demand for services and reduction in home care providers has led to older Australians waiting up to a year to receive urgent support to continue living safely at home.
Mr Gannon stated that the admission by the Department of Health and Aged Care representatives means "68,000 older Australians have had their quality of life diminished, and they are not receiving the support they need to age in place with dignity."
He called for the policy approach to home care to reflect the willingness shown by the privately funded retirement living sector to help fight against the aged care crisis. The RLC's Shared Care framework, submitted to the Australian Government ahead of the Budget, finds that retirement villages could help make the delivery of home care almost 20 per cent more efficient, while saving the commonwealth $100 million annually.
"This framework could help ensure that older Australians receive more care per dollar invested, while saving the government money, so it is a win-win," Mr Gannon said. The 'shared care' approach would provide three models for retirement village operators to deliver community-based care services under the Support at Home program within the village setting, either independently or through a delivery partner.
These models, according to Mr Gannon, have been developed to show that significant efficiencies and savings to consumers and government can be achieved, even at moderate levels of uptake, with no cost to government. This is due to retirement villages providing scale for delivering these services efficiently and cost-effectively by reducing travel costs incurred by service providers, increasing the frequency of service delivery, and enhancing the quality and suite of services by leveraging those already in place at these communities.
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