Aged Care Minister Anika Wells has signalled that the Aged Care Taskforce’s recommendations are not dead in the water – but a bipartisan agreement is needed now to ensure that the Government can deliver on its promise of a sustainable, and quality, aged care system.
As we reported on Tuesday night, the aged care funding announced in the 2024-25 Budget equates to just $954 million over the next 12 months.
Over half of this figure – $531 million – is for new Home Care Packages, while the remaining expenditure is directed towards administration.
For a sector that is in dire financial straits, this Budget is not the ‘lifesaver’ that is required.
Yet, there are positives that the sector can take from the Budget papers and the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Budget webinar yesterday.
No measures directed at sustainability in the Budget
The statement from Health and Aged Care Minister Mark Butler reads:
“The new Aged Care Act will put older people at the centre of aged care. It will also support the government’s response to the Aged Care Taskforce. These reforms are crucial to create a sustainable sector that delivers high quality care.”
Given this Budget contains no measures to support the sector’s long-term sustainability, this suggests that the Taskforce’s recommendations – including measures to increase consumer contributions for daily living expenses and accommodation for those with the means to pay, or Plan B – remain on the cards, StewartBrown Senior Partner – and Taskforce member – Grant Corderoy told The Weekly SOURCE.
This was backed by Aged Care Minister Anika Wells in the Department of Health and Aged Care’s Budget webinar yesterday.
The Minister confirmed that the Government remains committed to releasing its response to the Taskforce’s Final Report and introducing the new Aged Care Act – now due to start from 1 July 2025 – as soon as possible.
“We continue to work on that day and night,” she said.
“We are settling the Government’s detailed response to the recommendations of the Aged Care Taskforce. We are doing that in consultation with key stakeholders, with the people of the Parliament, and we will release a full response to that in the near future.
“I want you as the sector to have confidence that we care very deeply about this and that we care very deeply about getting this right.
“It is exacting, difficult work, and we will continue to do that until we get it done.”
Taskforce recommendations tied to new Aged Care Act
Most of the 23 recommendations in the Taskforce’s Report are also not tied to the Budget – they are tied to the Act.
See the following:
Recommendation 7:
Establish a fee-for-service model for Support at Home that ensures participants only pay a co-contribution for services received.
Recommendation 10:
Funding for daily living needs to cover the full cost of providing these services. It is recommended this be composed of the Basic Daily Fee and a supplement.
Recommendation 13:
Require providers to retain a portion of the RAD in the near‑term to make an immediate improvement to sector financial sustainability. Base the amount on length of stay, with a cap on the number of years a RAD is subject to retention to protect residents who stay for a long time.
“These Taskforce measures, particularly related to consumer contributions, can be implemented very, very readily,” Grant said.
But time is running out.
“I don’t think we can wait until the new Act is in place in July 2025,” he added.
As we will discuss in our next issue of SATURDAY (out 24 May), operators say the delays to the response to the Aged Care Taskforce and Support at Home are hampering their ability to strategise for the future.
Few providers are building new aged care beds while the number of CEOs, board directors and staff leaving the sector has accelerated in the past 12 months.
Can the Government – and the Opposition – work together to stem the flow of funding and executives from aged care now?
