In this guest post, Stephen Muggleton, Group CEO of Bolton Clarke – one of Australia’s largest aged care providers, shares his views on the current funding delays and uncertainty being experienced by providers. Of particular concern is that delays in reform are threatening the progress needed to meet the demands of Australia’s rapidly ageing population.
Delays in key aged care reforms – compounding funding uncertainty for the sector – are deeply disappointing.
After some strong progress to lay solid foundations for a sustainable, accessible and well-resourced care system the process seems to be losing momentum. At the same time, our older population is growing more rapidly than ever with Australia’s population aged 80+ set to triple in the next decade. We need to match that pace to meet the corresponding demand for care and support.
Top of the list for ensuring financial sustainability for the sector is action on the recommendations of the Aged Care Taskforce – chaired by the Minister. After months of waiting, this is now being linked to the new Aged Care Act, which hasn’t yet been introduced into parliament.
Implementing the taskforce recommendations is a critical step to ensure a viable and properly funded aged care system into the future.
The latest modelling shows growth in residential aged care beds will turn negative if current trends continue. Hospital bed days used by people waiting for residential care are already at a 10-year high. Meanwhile, research informed by co-design work with older people is telling us people want new kinds of contemporary accommodation options that will help them age in place as part of integrated and connected communities.
Providers can’t commit to new projects to meet immediate demand or keep up with changing needs for age-friendly accommodation options without financial certainty. On the care side, the planning challenge is exacerbated with AN-ACC indexation for 2024-25 not likely to be released until August for implementation in October.
In home care, the queue has doubled to around 60,000 over the past nine months. Key details of the new program now delayed until 1 July 2025 are still unknown, again making forward planning difficult.
The government’s success in postponing pay increases under the Aged Care Work Value case further adds to the instability for providers and workforce. It’s positive that the Commonwealth has agreed to fund the necessary pay uplift. It’s frustrating to see the continued delays in their implementation, with the increase for indirect care workers not commencing until after 1 January and the full increase for direct care workers now not effective until October 2025.
The rationale for the delay was that the commitment to fund the increases was made in the context of its fiscal strategy, with more time now needed to calculate the necessary funding and make the legislative, contractual and IT changes necessary to distribute the funds.
The Fair Work Commission is also still considering further pay rises for enrolled nurses, registered nurses or nurse practitioners, which are not covered in the most recent decision.
All this comes at a time when modelling suggests current trends will result in the nursing workforce shortage growing to 80,000 across the health and aged care sector.
We need to do more. Our older population is growing and deserves high-quality care and support. The government has made a positive start but it’s now time to finish the job and equip providers to respond to that need.
