Mildura Rural City Council in northwest Victoria is the latest local government authority to announce it is not providing aged and disability care when its contract with the Commonwealth ends in June 2023.
Following a recommendation from the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the Federal Government is transitioning to a different funding model where providers will be funded on a “fee-for-service basis” depending on the number of services they supply to each of their clients, rather than being paid through block grants or subsidies.
Mildura Council’s acting CEO Martin Hawson said the funding change made it financially unviable for Council, which currently has around 1,500 registered clients, to continue offering services.
“Just to change the systems over would cost well over $600,000-$700,000. Then the ongoing operating costs … would be in the vicinity of $300,000,” Said Mr Hawson, adding Council was “quietly confident” providers would be attracted to the region.
Mildura Council’s Community Care Services Manager, Cheree Jukes, said it was in discussion with its 80 staff who work in at-home aged care, and there would “well and truly” be jobs for every staff member who wanted to remain in aged care with a different provider.
The Weekly SOURCE reported in September that Baw Shire Council at in Warragul in Victoria’s Gippsland region also was not renewing its contract to provide aged and disability care services. In November last year, Hepburn Shire Council in western Victoria, announced likewise. In Western Australia, the City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder announced in April last year that it would transfer Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) services to Amana Living, a Not For Profit service provider for the elderly.
