Improving aged care an odyssey for Usher
A Gold Coast developer saw first-hand the dark cloud hovering over the aged care industry with the demise of his mother and says the motivation to look after our elderly is flawed. He believes it is time to put people first
Bulletin PHIL Usher is talking about a revolution.
As a rebel in the aged care industry, the baby boomer wants to harness his generation’s people power to disrupt a model that is broken and battered.
And he already has an army of supporters – the staff affected by the ructions at Earle Haven.
Phil, the man behind the $81 million luxury private aged care community Odyssey at Robina, says he’s been fielding calls from former carers who, along with the 70 elderly residents who had to be moved out of the Nerang nursing home, were caught in a commerc-ial dispute. The 61year-old, who once helped shape the surfing industry with best mate Nev Hyman, says the carers are “mortified’’ by what happened to their residents and are desperate for change.
After more than 20 years in the aged care industry, having pioneered private aged care with Tall Trees Communities which sold in 2015, he says he is not interested in owning an empire but in setting an example of the power of putting people first.
“What happened at Earle Haven is beyond words. I get emotional talking about it,” says Phil, tears in his eyes.
“My own mother died from dementia-related complications so I had a real journey with her and imagining her being in that situation, it’s inexcusable.
“Unfortunately, the way our aged care industry is structured, we don’t have people at the centre of it. Operators are more interested in making money or receiving their government funding. We have it back to front. The residents should be the ones with the power. Instead they have none.
“The carers were caught in the middle. I have had several of them ring and email me, asking if they can come work here instead.
“The whole industry has just been dragged through the mud but the truth is that the vast majority of people at the coalface, the carers, they are doing an incredible job for very little money. They care as a job because they care as people.”
Phil says a major shift is needed in the industry.
He is a passionate advocate of the consumer-directed care (CDC) model of service delivery that is now reaching the aged-care sector.
“The Government has started to move in the right direction with CDC packages, where they allot the hours they will pay, and you get to choose who provides it,” he says.
“At Odyssey, you can opt for any carer you want. We provide our in-home care at cost, which means we are often a cheaper option, but the fact the resident has the power to hire or fire means that we have to work at a high level.
“People are arguing for more government control but what we actually need is more people power. We need more facilities to open this option to their residents so that they are forced to be competitive with their services.”
Phil says while CDC packages are a step in the right direction, the Aged Care Funding Instrument – the mechanism for allocating government subsidies to aged care providers – needs to be flipped.
He says ACFI rewards illness rather than wellness.
“The one thing we all agree on, and the message we are hearing loud and clear from the Royal Commission into Aged Care, is that we all want the best for our elderly.
“And yet, what’s the best way to get more money into an aged care facility? Have more illness. If you are assessed as a Level 3 or 4 then the provider gets a lot more money. So where’s the incentive to promote wellness?
“Let’s turn the world upside down and do it right. Our existing system is in conflict. What we want for our parents and grandparents is wellness, but the financial instrument rewards illness. There’s no point in patching up this system. I’m hoping that after the Royal Commission they’ll realise we need to wipe the slate clean and start again.”
In the wake of both the Royal Commission and the Earle Haven crisis, Phil says some in the industry now herald him as a futurist whose left-field approach to aged care has been an “overnight success’’. He says it is a very different story to when he opened his first facility, Tall Trees, almost 20 years ago.
“Back then everyone thought we were crazy,” he says. “But I only started in this industry because I wanted to look after my mother. I asked her what she wanted. She said she didn’t want to live in a box, she didn’t want to be told to get up at a certain time and live a regimented life, she wanted to be able to keep her dog, to have family to stay, she didn’t want someone washing her delicates, she wanted privacy and dignity.
“I set out to find that for her and I couldn’t. So we built it for my mum and all mums.
“There was no CDC or NDIS then, it was user-pays, but because we provided something no one else could, it filled up immediately.
“For 10 years I’ve been saying that this industry has to change. Baby Boomers especially do not want to be on the conveyor belt to a pine box. Given what we’re seeing now, people realise that a new approach is necessary. But this ‘overnight success’ has been decades in the making.”
Phil says funding a new generation of aged care facilities will be yet another reckoning. He foresees a system set up like the public and private health systems.
“Coming out of the Royal Commission, I think we can all see that there has to be more – more care, more quality, better food, better lives. The question that’s begging to be asked is, who is going to pay for this? I believe the recommendation will be that for those who can afford to pay, they will need to pay. Trying to spread the money over everyone isn’t working. Either we all pay more to support our elderly or we use the pool of money we have but divide it differently.
“We have to leave enough money in the tin for those who can’t afford it. In the aged care system you can’t be everything to everybody, but they are trying to be.’’
Phil says the culture of care is another area that needs to be transformed. He says this at the heart of why the Earle Haven crisis occurred.
“You have two options when you work in the aged care industry – roll up your sleeves, take responsibility for your people, train your people and create your own culture or, if you can’t or don’t want to