At DCM’s recent LEADERS SUMMIT, Tracey Burton, CEO of Uniting, opened her presentation by picking up on a comment by DCM CEO Chris Baynes.
“Whatever's going to happen for the next few years is on our watch,” she said.
With Uniting in a capital freeze, she cautioned the room about future aged care shortages if new aged care stock is not built today.
With more than 7,700 aged care residents, 9,000 home care clients and 3,000 independent living clients, Uniting NSW.ACT is 3% of the NSW/ACT market. But across the country, Uniting makes up 9% of aged care services.
Tracey said aged care “lost so much trust” and the sector has to “reset the relationship we have with the government and the community.”
“The development of a sustainable funding model for aged care is the unfinished business of the Royal Commission,” she said, saying there is a “gap” between the standards of aged care and the expectations of seniors and the people who love them, due to funding shortfalls.
“I think really we are at a crossroads with our financial sustainability.”
Tracey said in the last six months, Uniting’s costs have “gone crazy”. For example, agency costs have risen from $12 million to $39 million.
Indexation of funding is required, she said. Current inflation, as well as staffing pressures, mean “the squeeze is very much on”.
Uniting has imposed a capital freeze because it can’t afford to rebuild its old homes, and has even closed some facilities. “I don’t have another alternative,” she said.
The sector is contracting, she said – a factor that should have hospitals “enormously concerned” as patients won’t have aged care facilities to move into. We are already seeing some signs of “bed blockage”.
Tracey said Uniting has taken on seven regional aged care homes in the last two years, and expects consolidation will continue.
But Uniting will not be making any further acquisitions for the time being. “We don't feel that we can actually keep taking on more and more regional homes at this point in time with the state that we're in and the stress that it creates.
“We've got a lot of people to look after at Uniting. We don't want to compromise people in our care by trying to overreach and do too much. So we have paused,” she said. “That’s rather sad,” she said.
Tracey said it is “ageism” that is behind the $330 per bed per day funding the sector receives, compared with more than $800 for hospital patients.
“It’s time to really grab Plan B, to really pursue those consumer contributions,” she said.
A $50 a day additional charge would add $20,000 a year – or $4 billion of additional revenue. “So let's lead in this, and have these conversations and shift the dial so that we can close that gap and seniors get the care and the life they deserve,” she concluded.
