Bolton Clarke’s new Ageing Well Report has underlined the significant opportunity for aged care and retirement living providers to ‘cash in’ on the Baby Boomers’ demand for wellbeing.
Reading the Not For Profit’s inaugural report this week, two points stood out: independence and staying active is the key priority for older Australians – and those aged 55-plus were also the most likely to believe they are responsible for their own care.
This is being reflected in Bolton Clarke’s own experience.
Its Chief Operating Officer for At Home Support, Deidre McGill, told The Weekly SOURCE that the organisation – which has 130,000 home care clients and delivers 11,000 home care visits a day – is seeing an uptick in their clients looking to live a healthier lifestyle and stay socially connected so that they can live a longer, better life at home.
‘Care’ is no longer a linear process, added Deidre – instead more clients are using residential care for respite care or reablement and then returning home, delaying their admission to permanent residential care.
“Nobody really wants to be dependent,” she said. “They don’t want to have to wait for someone to come and provide their care. They want to be able to go out and live a life on their own terms until they can’t. That’s where the residential care comes in… but it’s a long journey.”
What does this tell us?
Opportunity for providers to “connect the dots” for customers
The Baby Boomers want services to support them to be able to live well – and aged care and retirement living providers should be strategising now about how to capitalise on this demand.
At DCM Group’s Masterclass last week, UC Berkeley Marketing Professor Peter Wilton pinpointed that there is a significant opportunity for operators that can “connect the dots for their customers” and help to manage their wellbeing.
Calvary Kooyong General Manager Shannon Thompson said the provider is already seeing significant health benefits for its village residents at its new precinct thanks to its coordinated care service model.
Regardless of what the Aged Care Taskforce recommends in its Final Report in December, aged care will remain primarily a Government-funded service – returns will not be huge.
Yet there is a significant cohort of older Australians that is willing to pay to remain healthy and avoid entry to residential care.
Those organisations that can develop new services and models of care to address this demand for wellbeing will be able to expand their footprint and create alternative revenue streams that in turn benefit their customers and the bottom line.
The SOURCE: Wellness should be the new business mantra for the ageing sector.
