Budget fails aged care yet again
Don’t be fooled by the billions, profits can still trump care, writes Emily Shepherd
THE sheer size of the Morrison government’s announcement of $17.7bn for aged care in the federal budget is on the surface an impressive number.
But the sad reality is that the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation strongly believes it’s definitely not the “once in a generation” reform package promised.
As the population ages — and Tasmania’s elderly cohort leads the nation — the package is nowhere near enough for safe, quality care for vulnerable residents.
The ANMF believes the commitment to introduce regulated care hours for residents is an acknowledgment by government it now understands staffing is at the heart of best care. However, the government should have gone further and mandated minimum staffing levels.
What all care homes need now is the staff to deliver 200 minutes of care per resident per day along with enough registered nurses to deliver 40 minutes of those 200 minutes.
We also question which generation of Australians will actually see the benefits of this package to fix the broken aged care system.
Sadly, this budget falls well short of what residents, their families and the community want to fix aged care.
The ANMF acknowledges 200 minutes of minimum care minutes per resident is a step in the right direction. But why do we have to wait until 2023?
The government seems to have ignored the second phase of care minutes recommended by the Royal Commission. We need a plan. Why have a Royal Commission then ignore so many of its recommendations?
Without mandated minimum staffing and a skills mix guaranteed to meet the needs of residents, elderly Tasmanians and their families will continue to suffer.
The ANMF acknowledges the introduction of providers being forced to publicly disclose care minutes for residents is a positive step.
The drafting of a new Aged
Care Act is also positive.
But the apparent lack of transparency and accountability for the use of billions of taxpayer dollars allocated to aged care providers in this budget continues to be a failure by the government. Ultimately, this will mean unscrupulous providers can continue to put profits before care.
The government will provide $7.8bn over five years as part of the $17.7bn package. Funding will include: $3.9BN over four years to increase amount of frontline care (care minutes) to 240,000
residents and 67,000 who access respite, by October 1, 2023. This will be mandated at 200 minutes per day, including 40 minutes with a registered nurse from October, 2023. However, what the ANMF says is missing includes:
NO REGISTERED NURSE on-site 24/7 Australia wide, a year longer than Royal Commission recommendation. NO COMMITMENT to increase time in mid-2024
NO PROTECTED enrolled nurse minutes
NO SPECIFICATION that the 200 minutes be direct care. THE BUDGET says “requiring … facilities to deliver an average of 200 care minutes per resident per day from 1 October 2023.” This is an average, not a minimum.
The ANMF believes the aged care system is one of the greatest challenges of this and future governments. We will not stop raising the gaps in the system. We are committed to caring for our most vulnerable people — elderly Tasmanians living in aged care homes.