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© 2024 The Weekly SOURCE
Aged Care
2024 Year in Review: Aged Care

In this edition of our 2024 Year in Review, we look back at the most significant aged care stories of the year.

In many ways, it's been a challenging year for aged care operators who have provided care for vulnerable Australians while the system has been undergoing fundamental reforms. And more reforms are on the way. Consolidation has been one of the key themes of the year, as operators seek efficiencies in a more complex and highly regulated system, with many small operators finding the new requirement too hard.

The passage of the Aged Care Bill 2024 through Parliament in November, of course, was a pivotal event, marking the start of a new era for aged care in Australia.

Read Caroline Egan's recap of the aged care story highlights for 2024.

January

  • Tasmania-based Respect Aged Care announced it had purchased its 23rd and 24th aged care homes, one in Moe and another in Sale, both more than 100km east of Melbourne, from Royal Freemasons, which had announced it is exiting most of its residential aged care homes. 
  • The Office of the Inspector-General of Aged Care released its first Annual Work Plan. The one-page document listed as part of its work a review of My Aged Care, the Government’s aged care portal. 
  • Baptist Care Australia announced migration expert Dr Robyn Sampson had been appointed CEO. Dr Sampson had been acting in the role since August 2023, when Nicole Hornsby departed. 
  • Simon Miller, CEO of Christian Not For Profit Anglicare Sydney, and Tom Symondson, CEO of Aged and Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA), were among nine new members appointed to the National Aged Care Advisory Council, which was set up in 2021 in response to a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. 

February 

  • Opal HealthCare announced the $40 million acquisition of Jeta Gardens aged care business from Malaysian KPJ Healthcare for AUD$15 million as well as the land and buildings from its associated Al-‘Aqar Healthcare REIT for AUD$24.4 million. 
  • Not For Profit Uniting NSW.ACT acquired workforce marketplace Find a Carer, a For Purpose online workforce tool, to deliver greater flexibility to home care carers and clients. 
  • The Department of Health and Aged Care extended the timeframe to provide feedback on the Exposure Draft of the new Aged Care Act, released in December 2023, from 16 February to 8 March. 
  • Australian Unity acquired myHomecare Group for $285 million, creating a 50,000 customer “powerhouse” led by Group Executive for Home Health Prue Bowden.

March 

  • Not For Profit UnitingCare Queensland, one of Australia's largest charities, announced it would lay off about 2% of its workforce, or 340 employees, to ensure the Group's ongoing financial viability in the face of rising costs and new regulations. 
  • Australian Unity announced a 477% increase in 1H FY24 EBITDA for its aged care homes, based on a 28% increase in revenue and lower agency costs. Occupancy was 97.2%. 
  • Arcare Aged Care bought its 51st aged care home, The Orchards, a 120-bed facility in Lisarow between Sydney and Newcastle. 
  • St Basil’s NSW/ACT appointed Diana Horvatovic as CEO. She has previously been acting in the role. 
  • The Government released the long-awaited Aged Care Taskforce Final Report, which they had received the previous December. 
  • Australia's largest pure residential care operator Opal HealthCare acquired the 31 Victorian aged care homes of BlueCross. 
  • Three-and-a-half years after the Health Services Union launched its landmark bid for a 25% wage rise for aged care workers, the Fair Work Commission awarded aged care workers a pay rise, for some their second, to address the historic gender bias that undervalued their work. Direct aged care workers received increases of between 2% and 13.5%, cleaners, food services assistants and laundry staff were given an increase of just under 7%, while administrative and other support staff were awarded a 3% rise. The decision was on top of the interim 15% wage rise that came into effect on 1 July 2023. 
  • Not For Profit BaptistCare, reportedly Australia’s ninth largest home care provider, strengthened its position in NSW’s Hunter region with the acquisition of Presbyterian Aged Care’s home care business. 

April 

  • Catholic Health Australia, the peak body for 12% of residential aged care homes and 20% of home support services for older Australians, announced the appointment of three new directors: Francis Price (Chair, Southern Cross Care Queensland), Sylvia Falzon (Chair, Cabrini Health), and Patrick Brady (Chair, Mater Misericordiae Limited). 
  • It was revealed that as of 31 December 2023, there were 51,044 older Australians waiting for a Home Care Package at their assessed level of need, a 35% increase, or 13,150 more, than at the same time a year prior. 
  • South Australian Not For Profit ACH Group appointed Linda Feldt as CEO, after she was appointed Interim CEO in November 2023 after former CEO Frank Weits stepped down. 
  • The Acting Inspector-General of Aged Care, Ian Yates AM, launched a review of My Aged Care, the gateway to access Government-funded aged care services. 
  • The Department of Health and Aged Care announced $100 million in funding to entice providers offering services through the Department of Veterans Affairs or the National Disability Insurance Scheme to expand into the CHSP, with 38,000 older Australians approved for the CHSP but still waiting for a provider as of 31 December 2023. 
  • For Purpose Aged Care Australia, the social impact investment vehicle set up by For Purpose Investment Partners, announced the acquisition of Graeme Croft’s Signature Care portfolio, propelling it into the top 15 largest residential aged care providers in the country. 

May 

  • Australian social impact investment fund manager For Purpose Investment Partners, the previous month had bought 14 aged care homes from private operator Signature Care, purchased national meal delivery business Tender Loving Cuisine. 
  • Clayton Church Homes opened its $28 million luxury Summerhill development in the Adelaide Hills town of Uraidla. 
  • The 2024-25 Budget revealed the start date for the new Aged Care Act had been pushed back 12 months to 1 July 2025 and disappointed the aged care sector when it failed to mention the recommendations of the Aged Care Taskforce, which the Government received the previous December. There was $2.2 billion for aged care over five years from 2023-24, including $1.2 billion for the Department of Health and Aged Care’s digital systems, and $531.4 million in 2024-25 for 24,100 additional Home Care Packages. 
  • Aged Care Minister Anika Wells said the new Aged Care Act would be introduced to Parliament “as soon as we humanly can”. 
  • The Department of Health and Aged Care’s 56-page 'Care minutes and 24/7 registered nurse responsibility guide' revealed that from 1 October 2024, when care minutes targets were set to increase, enrolled nurses would be able to deliver 10% of RN-specific care minute targets. 
  • Respect Aged Care acquired its 26th aged care home with the takeover of Victorian stand-alone Lyndoch Living, effective 1 June 2024. 
  • Opal HealthCare turned the first sod on its Croydon Grove Care Community, a $157 million, four-storey, 121-bed project, 30km from the Melbourne CBD. 
  • Calvary Health Care announced it would close Calvary Hallam, a residential aged care home 34km south east of the Melbourne CBD. 
  • Co-founder Bryan Dorman sold 5.81% of his stake in Regis Aged Care, the business he co-founded, for an estimated $68 million. 
  • Arcare Aged Care, which is owned by property developer Knowles Group, received “unprecedented interest” when it opened 106-bed Arcare Warners Bay, 15km south of Newcastle, NSW. 
  • Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson and the nation's Chief Medical Officer, Professor Paul Kelly, wrote to aged care provider board Chairs urging them to keep COVID-19 and flu vaccinations up to date. 
  • Queensland Not For Profit Carinity appointed Kevin Griffiths CEO after David Angell served as Interim CEO for more than 12 months. 

June 

  • The Fair Work Commission announced its Annual Wage Review decision, with a 3.75% increase for the National Minimum Wage and the 121 Awards across the economy, including for aged care, the Social Community, Home Care and Disability Services Award 2010 (SCHADS), the Aged Care Award 2010, and the Nurses Award 2020. 
  • Woolworths announced it had lodged plans to build an aged care facility in Cooroy, a rural town 135km north of Brisbane, in response to community feedback and a first for the supermarket behemoth. 
  • Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells announced all 32 recommendations of David Tune’s Capability Review of the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission would be accepted, 14 months after the Government received the report. 
  • The Australian Government’s first assessment report on its Care Finder Program revealed a service hampered by the shortage of aged care beds and housing options for older Australians. 
  • One in five aged care homes were experiencing a COVID-19 outbreak. 
  • Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson wrote to aged care homes that had not achieved their mandated care minute targets, asking them to explain the non-compliance and the steps they were taking to remedy the situation. 
  • It was revealed in Senate Estimates the aged care sector was estimated to be short 4,043 RNs for the 2024-25. 
  • The Melbourne-based Not For Profit provider of residential aged care, home care and retirement living services, MiCare, appointed Penni Michael CEO to succeed Petra Neeleman, who stepped down after 33 years with the organisation. 
  • In one of his last acts as HammondCare CEO, Mike Baird announced two multi-storey aged care homes will be built at Hammondville, the provider's 12-hectare site in south west Sydney, home to the largest number of dementia beds in Australia. 
  • In Parliament, Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie introduced a Private Members Bill calling on the Government to establish a portfolio and Minister for Older Australians. 
  • Infinite Care Klemzig, 6km north east of the Adelaide CBD, admitted the first residents under SA Health’s Care Awaiting Placement (CAPS) program, which provides short-term placements for hospital patients awaiting a permanent bed in residential aged care amid the state's aged care bed shortage. 

July 

  • Home care provider Silverchain acquired formerly private-equity owned KinCare, adding 1,300 employees and more than 11,500 Home Care Packages or Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) clients, making the Not For Profit the third-largest home care provider in Australia. 
  • Research from Not For Profit aged care provider Bolton Clarke indicated that if current trends continue, the supply of aged care beds across the country will decline by around 1,000 in 2024-25. 
  • The Fair Work Commission released the timing of pay rises related to the Aged Care Worker Work Value case. Indirect care workers are to receive their full increase from 1 January 2025. For direct care workers, pay rises would be phased in on 1 January 2025 and a second tranche from 1 October 2025, according to a formula. 
  • The Australian Financial Review reported that Singaporean investors GK Goh Holdings and Australian equity investors AMP Capital were in discussions with Morgan Stanley about selling Australia's largest aged care provider Opal HealthCare. 
  • NZ’s listed Vital Healthcare Property Trust sold three Bolton Clarke aged care properties. 
  • Retirement village operator Aveo announced its fifth partnership with Opal HealthCare, announcing Australia’s largest aged care operator will repurpose existing buildings at Aveo's existing Bayview Gardens Retirement Living community on Sydney's northern beaches into residential aged care. 
  • WA Not For Profit Bethanie appointed Roulé Jones as CEO after she had served as Interim CEO since October 2023. 
  • Kiama Council announced it had sold its troubled Blue Haven Bonaira aged care facility for $95 million to WA-based Hall & Prior, which is expanding, netting the Council only $26 million. It’s estimated it cost $105 million to build Blue Haven Bonaira, which has 134 beds and ILUs, the latter of which are not being sold. 
  • As the aged care sector waited on tenterhooks for the Government’s response to the recommendations of the Aged Care Taskforce, the Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells flew to the Paris Olympics to fulfil her alternate role as Minister for Sport.  
  • ASX-listed Regis Healthcare sold its Perth aged care home, Regis Weston, in wealthy Nedlands, to property developer Hesperia. 

August 

  • WA's largest private operator Aegis topped out its healthcare precinct Murdoch Square, which includes a 182-bed aged care home. 
  • The then Acting Inspector-General of Aged Care Ian Yates AM, in his 166-page 2024 Progress Report on the implementation of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety's recommendations, called on the Government to make "needs-based" or "demand-driven" aged care the cornerstone of reforms, as was recommended by the Royal Commission. 
  • Catherine Daley, longstanding CEO of QLD, NSW and TAS home care provider integratedliving, announced her retirement. 
  • Private aged care operator Infinite Care, which at the time had 17 aged care homes in SA, QLD, and NSW, announced the acquisition of 60-bed Infinite Care Prahran home, in Windsor, inner-city Melbourne, for $11.75 million. Infinite Care is also building a 177-bed home at Knoxfield in outer Melbourne. 
  • More than 23,000 residents received a COVID-19 vaccination in the month to 7 August, compared with only 12,000 for the month to 27 June after Janet Anderson put aged care providers "on notice" in June, warning them "there is no excuse for any residential aged care service to be under-prepared for COVID-19". 
  • Backing away from a 2022 election promise and in a move to foster bipartisan support, the Albanese Government abandoned plans to impose criminal penalties, including jail time, on "dodgy aged care providers" who neglect or mistreat residents. 

September 

  • Five aged care providers made IBISWorld’s top 50 unlisted Australian companies of 2024: St Vincent’s Health Australia, Australian Unity, UnitingCare Queensland, Calvary Health Care, and Bolton Clarke. Also, in the top 100 were Uniting and Opal HealthCare. 
  • Private aged care operator Rockpool announced the roof had been secured on its six-storey, 152-bed home Songbird Oxley aged care home, 16km north of the Brisbane CBD, with opening expected in 2025. 
  • The Australian Digital Health Agency and the Department of Health and Aged Care released the first minimum software standards for aged care clinical systems: Aged Care Clinical Information System (ACCIS) Standards. 
  • Dementia care specialist Group Homes Australia opened its 22nd home in Thornleigh, 22km northwest of the Sydney CBD. 
  • The Aged Care Bill 2024 was introduced to Parliament after the Government achieved bipartisan support for Chapter 4 of the reforms, which relate to aged care funding. 
  • Only two weeks before 215 care minute targets were due to take effect, the Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells announced the AN-ACC price would increase 13% to $280.01 from 1 October 2024. 
  • The Federal Government announced that aged care homes in MMM 2 to 3 and MMM 4 to 5 would be grouped together for funding purposes from 1 October 2024, as opposed to aged care services in MMM areas 1 to 4 receiving the same funding, reflecting the higher cost of delivering aged care services outside metropolitan areas. 
  • The number of residential aged care deaths from COVID-19 surpasses 7,000. 
  • StewartBrown analysis of the Government’s aged care reforms suggests the residential aged care sector can expect at least $2-plus billion a year in additional funding in three years’ time and the Hotelling Supplement may require an additional $7 per bed per day to "fully meet" the actual cost of delivering hotelling services. 
  • In a Department of Health and Aged Care webinar, it was revealed that under Support at Home cleaning would be capped at 52 hours per year and 18 hours per year for gardening. 
  • It was reported in the Australian Financial Review that infrastructure investor Pacific Equity Partners, part owner of land lease communities owner Serenitas, had made a non-binding offer for Australia's largest aged care provider, Opal HealthCare. 

October 

  • The Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells wrote to residential aged care providers noting her ‘disappointment’ with the failure of some operators, mainly For Profits, to meet care minute requirements despite increased funding over the past two years. 
  • Regis Aged Care announced its 112-bed Camberwell aged care home, 10km east of the Melbourne CBD, is complete and will open in November. 
  • At aged care accounting specialist StewartBrown’s 2024 Aged Care Finance Forum in Sydney, Partner Stuart Hutcheon said the proposed reforms for care management could cause a serious hit to margins. 
  • Hearings and submissions for the Senate Inquiry into the Aged Care Bill 2024 revealed aged care providers were concerned about the timeframe to implement the incoming reforms and wanted the Government to fund the huge cost of implementation. Alice Warrington, CEO of Community Based Support in Tasmania, said the reform timeframes were keeping her awake at night. 
  • The Australian aged care sector only gained 2,224 residential aged care places in 2023-24, according to a report by global real estate specialists Colliers. 
  • Private aged care operator Aegis announced it will build an eight-storey health facility, including aged care, in Joondalup, 26km north of Perth's CBD.    
  • The inaugural State of the Sector report by the peak body for aged care providers, ACCPA, showed 17% of aged care providers were 'not at all' optimistic about their ability to provide aged care services by 2027. 
  • Natalie Siegel-Brown, Commissioner of Social Policy with the Productivity Commission and Board Director with Aged and Disability Advocacy Australia, was announced as Inspector-General of Aged Care, replacing Ian Yates AM who has been acting in the role. 
  • Bryan Dorman announced he plans to retire, 30 years after founding Regis Aged Care. 
  • Innovative dementia care specialists, Community Home Australia, welcomed their first guests to dementia resort Aashaya Jasri Resort in Bali, including two with younger onset dementia. 
  • ACCPA held its National Conference, where CEO Tom Symondson said the organisation would change its name to Ageing Australia. 
  • There were 76,000 older Australians in the National Priority System, the waiting list for Home Care Packages, it was revealed in a Canberra hearing of the Senate Inquiry into the Aged Care Bill 2024. 
  • Michael Reid AM, who was Director General of New South Wales Health from 1997 to 2002 and Queensland Health from 2008 to 2011, was appointed Independent Chair of ACCPA, replacing inaugural Chairman Dr Graeme Blackman AO, who stepped down after three years in the role. 
  • The Federal Government's COVID-19 Response Inquiry (CRI) report highlighted low vaccination rates in residential aged care. 
  • Robotics pioneer Lee Martin was forced by his board to step down from the role of CEO of Lutheran Homes Barossa, a standalone aged care home in South Australia, a role he had held for more than a decade. 
  • Not For Profit Mercy Health, which operates 30 aged care homes across Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia, acquired two residential aged care homes from Bentley Wood Health and Aged Care in Yarrawonga and Myrtleford, northeastern Victoria. 

November 

  • The Senate Inquiry Report was published, with the Senate Committee recommending the Aged Care Bill 2024 be passed without amendment, but Coalition Senators making 32 recommendations. 
  • Estia Health announced it had acquired Calvary Health Care’s three aged care homes in Queensland. 
  • Commonwealth Ombudsman Iain Anderson issued a 'Public Statement' saying Star Ratings are not "sufficiently meaningful" to help people make informed decisions about aged care services. 
  • Media reports claimed that equity investor Private Equity Partners had secured "exclusivity" over a 50% stake in Opal HealthCare in a deal that valued Australia’s largest aged care provider at "significantly more” than $2 billion. 
  • Perth-based Hall & Prior announced the acquisition of Canberra Aged Care, its first foray into the ACT. 
  • Shine Lawyers revealed a confidential settlement had been reached with Anglicare Sydney on the Newmarch House COVID-19 class action. 19 residents died during the COVID-19 outbreak at the aged care home in April and May 2020. 
  • Almost 18 months after BaptistCare NSW/ACT and Baptistcare WA merged, the Boards and executives of BaptistCare (NSW, ACT, WA), Baptcare (VIC, SA, TAS), and Baptist Care SA announced they will merge to form a billion-dollar aged care and retirement living powerhouse. 
  • As Senators questioned Ian Yates AM, Acting Inspector-General of Aged Care, about demand-driven home care in Budget Estimates, Thea Connolly, First Assistant Secretary Home and Residential with the Department of Health and Aged Care, revealed 3,383 older Australians died waiting for their correct level of Home Care Package to come through in 2023-24. 
  • It was revealed in Budget Estimates that the aged care sector is estimated to be short 1,490 RNs in 2024-25. 
  • Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells announced the Federal Government is forming an Aged Care Transition Taskforce to help providers "manage implementation of the new Aged Care Act by 1 July 2025”. 
  • Anika Wells also stated the Government's Support at Home reforms would no longer cap cleaning at 52-hour per year and gardening at 18-hour per year.
  • ACCPA appointed Directors Mark Sewell (NSW/ACT), former CEO of Warrigal, and Clare Grieveson (WA), CEO of Southern Cross Care (WA) Inc. 
  • Michael Lye, Deputy Secretary, Ageing and Aged Care, Department of Health and Aged Care, wrote to all 275,000 recipients of Home Care Packages warning them providers are likely to increase prices in the coming months to reflect wage rises coming in on 1 January 2025 and 1 October 2025. 
  • The Aged Care Bill 2024 was passed in the Senate, and then in a final vote in the House of Representatives, paving the way for the Bill to become law. 
  • Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells announced 107,000 Home Care Packages would be released over two 2025-26 and 2026-27 as the Albanese Government tries to meet its self-imposed target of reducing the wait times to three months by 1 July 2027. 
  • After deliberating for four days, a NSW Supreme Court jury unanimously found 34-year-old now former Senior Constable Kristian White was guilty of the manslaughter of 95-year-old Clare Nowland, after he Tasered her in her aged care home in Cooma, NSW, last year. 
  • Not For Profit Calvary Health Care announced it was pulling out of SA’s My Home Hospital partnership with Amplar Health to focus on its core business. 

December 

  • Respected aged care accountants StewartBrown issued a Support at Home impact analysis, showing that Support at Home clinical care gross margin increases of up to 200% would be needed, and the sacrifice of non-clinical low margin services, to ensure home care providers were sustainable. 
  • An estimated 400 new residential aged care beds will be created through the $250 million the Federal Government allocated in Round 2 of the Aged Care Capital Assistance Program. 
  • The Aged Care (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2024 was pushed through on the last sitting day of parliament, among more than 30 other pieces of legislation passed that day. 
  • The Department of Health and Aged Care's 144-page Report on the Operation of the Aged Care Act 2023-24 showed there were more cases of COVID-19 in residential aged care that year than in the previous year, though fewer deaths. 
  • Former Senior Constable Kristian White was removed from the police force following his guilty verdict. 
  • The Department of Health and Aged Care announced contracts worth nearly $1.5 billion to organisations conducting assessments under new Single Assessment System.
  • The purchase price, announced in July, of Kiama Council's 134-bed aged care home Blue Haven Bonaira, which is being acquired by Perth-based Hall & Prior, was slashed by $6 million to $89 million.
  • The Australian Financial Review reported that Estia Health, which was acquired by US-based Bain Capital last year, secured $300 million in funding from Japanese bank Nomura, which is expected to be used for growth and acquisitions.
  • The Department of Health and Aged Care revealed that it would delay the implementation of new pricing caps under the Support at Home program by 12 months, pushing the start date out to 1 July 2026 to the consternation of the Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care, Anne Ruston.
  • Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells announced that the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner, Janet Anderson PSM, would depart the role after six years with experienced bureaucrat Liz Hefren-Webb picking up the mantle in January 2025.
     
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