The Coalition has a plan for real action to help older Australians with better aged care services.
Specifically the Coalition will:
1. Negotiate an Aged Care Provider Agreement
Within the first year of government, the Coalition will negotiate an Aged Care Provider Agreement with
the peak aged care bodies about residential aged care and community services arrangements.
This will be the first ever Aged Care Provider Agreement.
In much the same way as the Pharmacy Agreement shapes that sector, the Agreement will set the
framework for aged care in Australia over the next four years.
The Agreement will recognise the role played by aged care providers in delivering residential facilities
and community and other services for older Australians.
The Aged Care Provider Agreement will aim to:
• reduce red tape and enable nurses to get back to nursing residents;
• provide certainty of aged care for older Australians underpinned by a high quality framework;
• deliver value for money through subsidy arrangements;
• ensure certainty for the aged care workforce;
• establish a viable aged care provider network to meet care needs now and in the future; and
• ensure that the comfort and safety of older Australians is not compromised.
The Aged Care Provider Agreement will provide the sector with the high level interaction with Government
that has been absent over the past three years.
The Aged Care Provider Agreement will include:
• Real reductions in red tape in aged care administration;
• The conversion of 3,000 of the allocated bed licences to operational residential aged care beds
by establishing an Aged Care Bed Incentive Programme;
• An appropriate balance of residential and community care places to provide choice for older
Australians showing an increasing preference for staying at home;
• Streamlining of existing community packages;
• Reduction in the complexity of the Aged Care Approvals Round (ACAR);
• Recognition of long-standing approved aged care providers by requiring an updated short ACAR
application rather than the usual lengthy application;
• One national aged care assessment tool to replace the Aged Care Funding Instrument (ACFI);
• Better access to medical and allied health services in aged care;
• The release of the Labor Government’s Conditional Adjustment Payment Review;
• Indexation of the Conditional Adjustment Payment (CAP) in 2011 pending the outcome of the
Productivity Commission aged care inquiry;
• A strengthened aged care safety net of 25 percent for those less able to contribute;
• Working with the states and territories to produce simpler planning, building and certification
rules to enable greater flexibility of building and asset use; and
• Establishment of a formal pathway for future dialogue between the Minister, the Government
and the Aged Care sector to more effectively consider ongoing issues regarding timely and
appropriate access to aged care.
To give effect to the first Aged Care Provider Agreement the Coalition’s approach will be to:
• Immediately commence consultation with the aged care sector on the Aged Care Provider
Agreement;
• Establish a high level Aged Care Provider Agreement Steering Committee including peak aged
care bodies, aged care experts, other stakeholders and government to oversee the administration
and implementation of the Agreement and provide advice to the Minister; and
• Establish an Aged Care Provider Agreement Officials Working Group which will undertake
the detailed design and project work required to give effect to the Agreement, report to the
Steering Committee and provide advice on the outcome of the Productivity Commission Inquiry.
Encouraging choice, flexibility and innovation
The Coalition recognises that the best outcomes in aged care can be achieved through professional
development, research on best practice, harnessing technology and innovative services to assist older
Australians.
The Aged Care Provider Agreement will provide $50 million over four years for professional aged care
programmes and services. For example, the use of ‘assistive technology’, which refers to devices such
as mattress sensor pads to activate lights at night, remote monitoring of vital signs and systems to help
people remember their medication.
2. Establishing an Aged Care Bed Incentive Programme
The Coalition will take real action to convert up to 3,000 already allocated and funded high care residential
aged care bed licences into operational places. These new beds will help reduce the risk of high care
aged care shortages in the next five years.
Without more aged care beds, there will be even more pressure on public hospitals and emergency
units.
As of 30 June 2009, there were 178,379 operational residential aged care places out of 203,766 allocated
places.
The Coalition will work with aged care providers to bring the 3,000 extra high care beds on line during
our first term to reduce pressure on public hospitals.
The Coalition’s Aged Care Bed Incentive Programme will commence immediately if elected with funding
of $90 million for incentive payments to providers who hold an allocated residential aged care place as of
30 June 2010. The Coalition will allocate a total of $335 million over four years to fund the ongoing costs
of these beds.
The $30,000 per bed incentive payments will encourage aged care providers to make their allocated
places operational promptly.
The Coalition will redirect the $276.4 million, taken by the Labor Government from high care residential
aged care places in the 2010-11 Budget and given to State and Territory public hospitals, and return it to
the Aged Care budget to fund these additional beds.
3. Convalescent Care for older people waiting in hospital to return home
The Coalition will provide more choice and flexibility around services for older people waiting in hospital
to return home.
From 2011, the Coalition’s Convalescent Care programme will assist up to 20,000 people a year. The
programme will allow hospital patients who are clinically identified as needing convalescence to
continue their recovery after acute illness away from the ‘hustle and bustle’ of an acute care facility.
The Coalition will provide funding of $300 million over four years towards this programme which will
provide convalescent care for up to 21 days.10
The Coalition believes that providing this transitional period of recovery away from a hospital ward will
help relieve pressure on public hospitals.
The new programme will be more visible and transparent. It will utilise beds and expertise in aged care
facilities. Aged care providers will be encouraged to offer a range of more flexible support services and
more timely access than at present.
4. High standard of quality care and less red tape
The Coalition is committed to maintaining a high quality aged care sector.
Maintaining Standards
The Aged Care Standards and Accreditation Agency will be maintained. The complaints mechanism will
be streamlined to reduce duplication. In reducing red tape, there will be recognition of the experience of
established approved providers.
As of 30 June 2009, there were 2,794 accredited aged care facilities and of these, 91.6 percent had been
awarded three years accreditation.11
Better Benchmarking
Red tape in aged care facilities needs to be reduced. To streamline and cut time spent on subsidy payment
claiming and accreditation requirements the Coalition will continue to introduce benchmarking in aged
care facilities. This will provide a valuable management and quality control tool.
Importantly this will enable the aged care workforce to focus on caring for our seniors rather than being
bogged down with paperwork.
The Coalition will reallocate $7 million from the Department of Health and Ageing12 and provide an
additional $10 million directly to aged care providers to allow residential aged care facilities to purchase
benchmarking software and training packages.
Improved Employment Security
The Aged Care Provider Agreement will provide certainty for aged care providers and this should increase
security of employment in the aged care workforce. These measures will remove disincentives to work
in the aged care sector like red tape and low job security.
Retaining the skills, experience and dedication of the aged care workforce is integral to the long term
viability and success of this sector.
5. Supporting Senior Australians
• Declaring 2012 as the Year of Meals on Wheels
The Coalition will declare 2012 the ‘Year of Meals on Wheels’. We will provide $2 million to the Australian
Meals on Wheels Association to support this important initiative.
Meals on Wheels are at the heart of many communities across Australia with 740 services across
Australia and some 13 million meals delivered by 80,000 volunteers annually. Up to 50,000 meals are
delivered daily providing daily social interaction with frail older people and, with increasing cost of living
pressures hitting people on fixed incomes hardest, the service is facing more demand than ever.
• Expanding Dementia program to include other degenerative neurological conditions
The Coalition will provide an additional $50 million over four years to expand the Dementia program to
include other chronic degenerative neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease.13
The Coalition established dementia as a National Health Priority in 2004. In 2011, the Coalition will
broaden this commitment to older Australians by including other degenerative neurological conditions
that affect seniors.
Around 200,000 people currently have dementia and as the population ages this will increase to almost
465,000 by 2031.14 The increased commitment to dementia and other degenerative neurological conditions
will complement the Coalition’s $1.5 billion Real Action Plan for Better Mental Health.
• More funding for respite day care
In 2007 the Coalition provided funding for demonstration sites for day respite in residential aged care
facilities.
It appears ongoing funding for the centres in 2011 may not be available. The Coalition commits to $20
million in funding to support these important centres for another two years.15 At the end of the two years,
the Coalition will evaluate the performance of the demonstration sites.
The respite centres offer flexible half or full day care and respite care in aged care facilities to enable
carers to attend to personal business. Unpaid carers carry out a vital role in providing care to people of
all ages especially older Australians. Up to 2.6 million carers provided unpaid assistance to people with
disability and age-related conditions in 2003.
• People love their Pets – Grants Programme for Pet Therapy in Aged Care Facilities
Pets can lift people’s spirits. For many aged care residents owning a pet is not always an option - but a
regular visit from one is.
There are a variety of not for profit organisations around Australian that offer pet therapy as a community
service in which dogs and their owners, who have been assessed and accredited, volunteer to visit
residential aged care facilities, rehabilitation centres and hospitals.
The Coalition will provide $14 million over four years to accredited community organisations that offer
pet visiting services to residential aged care facilities. The funding will also be available to help train
pets for the visiting programmes.
• Companionship Programme
The Coalition believes there is a risk that social isolation can lead to a decline in the well-being of older
Australians.
The Coalition will provide $12 million funding for a Companionship Programme for grants to community
organisations to increase the number of volunteers who will become companions to people in aged
care facilities and the community. This approach will extend the reach of successful programmes, in
particular to ethno-specific and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) individuals.
The Companionship Programme will see volunteers visit regularly and add to the quality of life of the
older person, to read, chat, do crosswords or simply share their life experiences.
• Exercising the heart and the brain – promoting wellness
Healthy eating and exercise can help to improve the mental and physical health of older Australians.
Simple lifestyle modifications could have an impact on Australia’s healthcare spending.
The Coalition will provide $12 million for health and wellness initiatives to encourage and promote
healthy ageing. The funding will support a range of ‘grass roots’ activities and the Coalition will work
closely with seniors’ organisations and groups on this initiative.
Click here to Download the complete Ageing Policy.