An economic study has shown that investment in healthy ageing facilities in Australia’s rural and remote towns are economically and socially advantageous.
The study, which was commissioned by Southern Cross Care Queenland (SCCQ) and conducted by economic analysts, Evaluate, analysed the benefits of SCCQ’s aged care plans in the Western Downs Region town of Chinchilla.
The Chinchilla proposal was to create 81 new aged care places and eight affordable houses, at a cost of $31 million.
There is $3 million worth of funding in the Chinchilla Master Plan for the establishment and staff training of a community health and wellbeing hub.
The study found the Chinchilla model could lead to savings of nearly $63,000 per annum for every person who remains in home care if the health and wellbeing hub is also built.
The report states, “Looking to direct savings, the central argument is that home care, augmented by the wellbeing hub, will be adequate to many people’s needs and that the augmentation the hub provides will allow a certain percentage of the population to stay at home or in supported accommodation rather than moving to residential care.
“The counter to this is that, in the absence of the proposed hub, people will either need to transfer to residential care or will miss out on appropriate services, which would involve cost-shifting from the Commonwealth to the individual.”
Australia’s rural and remote regions face significant challenges delivering aged care services, due to the ageing population, a declining workforce, inadequate transport, lack of housing options for new workers and uncertainty over training and immigration.
“This is compounded by issues of rurality, where there is a lower-than-average supply of services, and low population density,” the report states.
“The latter means supply of care in the home is inevitably less efficient than in urban Australia and strongly supports the case for community-centred services.”
The report included forecasts for the Chinchilla population for the next decade. The size of the workforce is predicted to decline, but the numbers of residents aged over 65 will increase by 22% and those aged over 75 will increase by 35%.
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This report shows that significant public and private benefits can emerge from strategic approaches to aged-care investment that will better equip towns such as Chinchilla for the coming years,” said SCCQ CEO, Jason Eldering.
“This approach does not just support older people, but actually brings the community together through the wellbeing hub and tackles those big and growing issues like isolation and loneliness.
“And there is clearly value in preventative ageing and healthy ageing initiatives that can take the strain off services and also decrease reliance on the public health system.
“There are real opportunities out there, but they will require collaboration and innovation from all stakeholders, including government, and a spirit of goodwill to ensure that we’re keeping the needs of our older Australians as our priority.”
