The Aged Care Centre for Growth and Translational Research to open next year at Flinders University in Adelaide will help ensure vital research leads to tangible outcomes for the aged care sector.
The work will initially focus on four priority areas – dementia care, restorative care and rehabilitation, mental health and wellbeing, and social isolation.
Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Senator Richard Colbeck, said the centre was an important investment in improving the quality of aged care services.
“This is a big step forward when it comes to ensuring the needs of older Australians in care are not just met, but exceeded,” Minister Colbeck said.
“The Morrison Government is supporting the aged care sector to make improvements across workforce capability, care quality and effectiveness.
Ultimately, the centre will provide a platform for strengthened care for senior and vulnerable Australians and is part of the overall $17.7 billion the Morrison Government is providing in response to the Royal Commission into aged care quality and safety.
The first step in establishing the centre will be developing a new knowledge and implementation hub.
“This web-based hub will give the aged care sector access to information and products that set out practically how aged care can be delivered in the best possible way, based on comprehensive, evidence-based research,” Minister Colbeck said.
First round of applications at the centre open in February 2022. This will include support for aged care workers to trial new ways of delivering care.
The focus of the research will be on how care and clinical activities are organised, delivered by different workers, and deployed in different care settings.
The centre will also support sector-wide improvements in care quality by increasing and expanding the capacity of the aged care workforce to access, understand and use research outcomes in their day-to-day work.
Flinders University Vice-Chancellor Professor Colin Stirling said the national centre will enable collaboration between university researchers, industry partners and the aged care workforce to effectively address real and meaningful systemic changes for ageing Australians.
“The Aged Care Centre for Growth and Translational Research will bring together aged care staff and our researchers to carry out projects in collaboration with our industry partners, directly facilitating improvements in the sector,” Prof. Stirling said.
The research centre is part of the Government’s aged care workforce strategy to deliver vital services, improve quality, care and viability for senior Australians, under its $17.7 billion aged care reform package.
Minister Colbeck said the centre would evolve into an industry-led independent body.
“The Australian Government has provided funding over three years, and a key goal is for the centre to work towards self-sufficiency from 1 July 2024.”
The centre is expected to be operational by February 2022.
Without disrespecting the researchers or their valuable work, do I hear an election coming ?
More research, but no action on the current information we have.
This Government, this Minister and this Parliament [including the Opposition] have not got a clue about the real problems in Aged Care.
We need:
1. Total transparency of who gets what money and where it goes. These “private businesses and not for profits” both need a big dose of honesty and transparency. It is taxpayers money, who represents the taxpayer ? No one represents the taxpayer.
2. Dramatically reduced paperwork and manual handing of data that should be entered once, reported once and totally accessible to all including carers and families.
3. Consequences for failure to care for clients, scaled loss of funding, full civil liabilities and repeat offenders [both Corporate entities and Directors] should be barred from providing any future services for vulnerable people.
4. Work force planning that provides for locals to be trained to fill positions, permanent work, appropriate pay and conditions and stop reliance on imported labor. The current regime of allowing those who do not make themselves available to fill vacancies, continuing to receive benefits should stop. “money for nothing” should be replaced by “enough to feed your family and pay the bills with dignity” if an unemployed person is prepared to have a go. Employers should be closely monitored to provide training and a safe work place.
5. Minimum standards of staffing and training to be a target in work force planning. Over worked, under skilled, under appreciated, bullied and worn out cannot be a future for the Aged Care work force. Minimum standards of training and experience for Managers is also required and a review of how Managers are rewarded by bonuses should be examined and made public. Rewarding Managers to cut costs, avoid permanent staff and training costs should not be allowed to reduce government money allocated to care.
You don’t need reaching to help age care
You need money to be spent on training staffing good food Compassion. Respect for age care workers the things age care need is money spent we’re it’s need because all your research will tell you is
That staff are over work undervalue and the residents don’t get what they need by the operator the people who run age care the industry need WAKE UP because staff are feed up and are leaving the industry and the more long term cares leave god help age care then
Waste of taxpayers money whilst they ignore the fundamentals of adequate trained staff that respect our most vulnerable elderly who have paid their taxes & are left abandoned. This is just election promises BS.From a frustrated RN & Carer of past elderly parents who had to volunteer nearly full time with out pay to care for my dear mother in an inadequate privately run nursing home. It is just CRUEL & full of lies this research money when the fundamentals are being totally IGNORED!! Looks good to the electorate but unfortunately most will not know the real situation until they have a love one in a Nursing Home in Australia, most are inadequate although some are????