The concept, which is the brainchild of Cameron Holland, the former CEO of Ryman Healthcare Australia, is likely to happen.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers announced last month $5.2 million over three years from FY26 to initiate a pilot program that will “allow participants to combine their budgets to achieve economies of scale in service delivery”.
Shared Care is to take a small portion of many village residents’ Community and Home support packages and apply those funds to the full village, which would deliver economies of scale and investments in wellness supports for all residents.
An example would be instead of, for example, 10 residents each utilising their individual home support packages to be individually taken to the shops, part of those funds would be used to fund a village bus trip where one bus and one driver takes 10 people to the shops. Another example would be for the collective funds to pay for a village nurse, who would not only look after people on Government-funded Packages but also the other village residents and with the better health support, more likely arrest their pending acuity.
Executive Director of the Retirement Living Council, Daniel Gannon, said it will now work closely with the Department for Health and Aged Care, along with operators, to deliver this important pilot program and prove its efficacy.
“The ‘Shared Care’ model is the way of the future for aged care services in Australia, which would allow retirement villages and their communities to be part of the solution rather than the problem,” he said.
“Retirement villages enjoy economies of scale given the average sized community across Australia contains 100 independent living units with 120 residents. Utilising these communities to better deliver more home care services is a ‘no brainer’.
“The program will help keep retirement village residents healthier and happier for longer in their own homes, delaying the need for aged care, which we know is under significant pressure.”
The Property Council thanked the RLC's Care and Support Services Committee for a lot of hard work to prepare this model, “led superbly by Cameron Holland”.
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