At the New Aged Care Act and Support at Home Program Update webinar, which 8,000 participants registered to attend, Nick Morgan, Assistant Secretary, Support at Home Reform Branch, confirmed the Department of Health and Aged Care is considering allowing retirement village residents to pool their funds for shared services, such as on-site nurses or a communal minibus.
He likened pooling funds to a subscription service, giving retirement village residents access to a broader range of services.
"I don't think it will make sense for all providers. But where people are living in close proximity is the area we're focusing on," he said.
As we wrote in SATURDAY, our subscription digital magazine, Christian Not For Profit Anglicare Sydney has been working with the Government around the design of Support at Home, including on the concept of pooling home care funds to support the delivery of care services in retirement villages, which Anglicare CEO Simon Miller christened as "congregate living".
Read Chris Baynes' Opinion piece on the proposed innovation
“The peace of mind and comfort that older people receive from having those types of services available to them is important, and they should be allowed to use their Package to pay for that. We’re quietly confident that the Government will allow some kind of pooling or subscription model," Simon said.
The Department is aiming for the pooling of home care funds to be an "opt in" arrangement, not compulsory, for retirement living residents, Nick said during the webinar.
The 1.5-hour webinar also covered the timeline for aged care reforms, the structure of the new home care system, the new Aged Care Act, the new single assessment system scheme, new home care classifications, and new grants for home care operators in thin markets.
