If you want to understand the future that could await Australia within the next three to five years, then you need to watch this video that we screened at our recent Masterclass in Sydney.
The clip below is from a new campaign, The Domino Effect, created by advertising agency Chemistry for the New Zealand Aged Care Association (NZACA), to highlight the impact of its aged care funding crisis on all New Zealanders.
Launched last month, the campaign is aimed at pressuring the Government to increase funding for the sector to build new beds.
It’s a strong message – one that is backed up by facts.
Check out the graph below from the campaign’s website:
It reflects the steady decline in beds over the past two years – 1,300 beds alone in the last 12 months.
By 2030, the shortfall in beds is expected to be around 13,200.
Why is this significant?
Because it’s also what is unfolding in Australia.
As we report in this issue, analysis of the Department of Health and Aged Care’s latest service list has revealed that aged care bed development fell 50% in 2022, with just under 1,800 new beds across the country.
Compare this to what is forecast to be needed – an extra 79,000 beds by 2030 according to the former Aged Care Financing Authority (ACFA), not counting the 55,000 beds requiring refurbishment.
This shortfall means that those operators with modern beds should find their investment is ‘rolled gold’ in the near future.
But what about all those people who will miss out on a bed?
As the New Zealand campaign so poignantly argues, the care burden will fall unfairly on families or see the elderly struggle on at home.
It’s already happening according to our SATURDAY cover, Rebecca Moraitis, Business Development Manager at Odyssey Lifestyle Care Communities, who says low to moderate care, low means residents are struggling to find beds because the financial model doesn’t incentivise operators to accept them.
What then is the solution?
The Aged Care Taskforce is now weeks away from its expected Interim Report and one of its underlying principles is that:
“The residential sector should have access to sufficient, and new, capital to encourage the development of new accommodation and upgrades to existing accommodation.”
The SOURCE: The Taskforce needs to resolve the issue of investment into residential aged care – or we will face the same situation as the New Zealanders.
