Every day, first thing, we spend 30 minutes discussing what is going on in the aged care space. This week, we heard concerns about the new Aged Care Act, due to take effect in just over six months from now on 1 July 2024.

“There’s crickets around the Aged Care Act,” IRT CEO Patrick Reid told The SOURCE. “There’s such little information about it.”

Patrick supports a rights-based approach, but said it needs to be carefully considered against current workloads and proper resourcing to enact any changes. 

“We need to be careful,” he said. “You have a purpose statement, you have a statement of principles, you have a statement of rights, and references to international conventions, which we all have to comply with when we’re already being smashed by BAU (business as usual) and everything else.

“I’m concerned purely from [the point of view of] how do I cope with a new Act that... I’m forced to comply with things I may or may not be able to comply with because of location, income, staffing.”

The new Act could pose an “existential challenge” for some providers, Patrick cautioned.

New Quality Standards

There is also very little information available about the new Quality Standards, including when they will be rolled out, Patrick said.

CEO turnover

“I think people are getting weary and there’s no breather on the horizon for the industry,” Patrick said.

“There’s a huge amount of movement in CEOs – there are people leaving left, right and centre. I think they’re looking into ‘24 and ‘25, with all of these things in the pipeline, saying, ‘I’m out... I’m burnt out. I’m tired.’

“I’m losing good execs. I’m losing good staff... to agencies and everything else.”

The sector needs good people to stay

“My call to my colleagues and to the industry is look after yourselves. They’re going to need you. There’s lots we have to do.”