Three-quarters of Australia’s aged care homes will endure another five years of losses and will be at risk of closure if the Government does not act on the Aged Care Taskforce’s recommendations urgently, says a new report by aged care accountants StewartBrown.
StewartBrown has been prompted to release the 19-page report, titled ‘Aged Care at the Crossroads’, over “concerns” about the delay in the Australian Government’s response to the Aged Care Taskforce recommendations, said Grant Corderoy, Senior Partner StewartBrown, a member of the Government’s hand-picked Taskforce.
The report details the “urgency” of the reforms and outlines the “significant consequences” if the reforms are “not implemented or even delayed”.
The bottom 75% of homes by financial performance (on average a loss of $14.82 per bed per day as of March 2024) will continue to report losses for another five years without the funding reforms and "are at risk of closure,” predicts StewartBrown.
Over the last five years, the aged care sector has made an aggregate loss of $5 billion due to continued operating losses. These losses have reduced the net asset position of the sector, and has “inhibited” investment in aged care beds and technology, which ultimately could impact quality of care through a lack of beds and lower standards of care, the report claims.
The report forecasts that by 2050, $37 billion will be needed to build the aged care beds required, and $19 billion to upgrade existing beds.
The report is calling on the Federal Government to release its Taskforce response promptly to deliver certainty to the sector.
“Once tabled, the exact form of the response to the recommendations can be nuanced before being enacted,” StewartBrown state.
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