The new aged care act promises to strengthen Australia’s aged care system, but a health policy expert thinks unless root issues such as funding and access is addressed, rural communities will be left playing “catch-up”. Photo: Charles Sturt University.
The new aged care act promises to make Australia’s system of looking after the elderly stronger when it comes into effect on 1 November.
But will it really make a difference in rural towns suffering from a chronic shortage of beds and staffing?
Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in rural health Cassie Biggs says the new act will replace previous legislations and create a rights-based system that is more person-centred, impacting everyone accessing or providing aged care services.
Ms Biggs says it’s “more about aligning expectations with what the residents really want”, and won’t mean anything much different for regional communities such as Wagga.
“There’s much more expectation to consult with the consumer to see what they want,” she said.
“It’s included things that weren’t really covered by any sort of governance before, such as dementia care, food and nutrition.
“It won’t make any more demands on the service provision. It might tweak the way the service is provided and make sure that it really is what the resident needs and wants.”
The previous model was still person-centred, but choices were limited by “what services probably thought was a good idea”.
The overall direction towards a more person-centred model of care is “fantastic”, but former CEO of rural advocacy group Healthy Communities Foundation Mark Burdack thinks it still fails to address the fundamental problem in rural areas.
“Which is the lack of access to an appropriate and skilled workforce and facilities,” he said.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 17 per cent of older Australians in major cities were receiving residential aged care in 2020, compared to 12 per cent in outer regional areas and 6.9 per cent in remote regions.
Older Australians may not necessarily receive the assistance and help they require. Based on Australian Bureau of Statistics data, 43.5 per cent of older Australians surveyed said their need was only partly met, with 4.2 per cent whose needs were not met in 2022.
Without incentives to address the root of the issue plaguing healthcare in remote communities, the health policy expert thinks the reforms are not equitable.
“We can talk about these reforms being equitable because they apply across Australia equally,” he said.
“People in remote communities simply don’t have access to the workforce, accommodation and support needed to access these services in an equitable way.
“I’d like to see them move away from the multipurpose service model and towards a community-based care model where people are not in a hospital facility for the remainder of their lives, but in a facility that’s designed to be a home with appropriate access to clinical care.”
Mr Burdack wants the government and decision-makers to start thinking about what happens at a rural level when designing these systems.
“We’re looking at how do we maximise this for the majority of people, not how do we actually make this work for all Australians, and that’s sad,” he said.
“I think we’ve got to a point [where] we say we’re putting people at the centre of care, but we’re not really doing that in a practical way for people in every community.
“How we treat our old is very much a reflection of the values of our society, and I don’t think we do that.”
For more information on the new aged care act and key changes, visit the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing.
