There are major concerns that the aged care bed shortage could get worse if the Government and opposition party cannot agree on the new Aged Care Act and funding instruments.
Industry projections from aged care accounting firm StewartBrown suggest the sector will be 21,200 beds short of projected demand by 2030 if there’s no major funding increase to aged care.
Similarly, other projections indicate roughly 20,000 home care places are required each year to meet increasing demand to age at home.
A political impasse is at the centre of the action, bringing aged care’s reform journey to a rumbling halt. Currently, the Coalition party needs to give its official support for the new Aged Care Act to be presented to Parliament so it can be legislated.
If this does not occur soon, there may not be enough time for key stakeholders to review the document before it comes into effect in mid 2025. Other major reform pieces such as the new Support at Home program and strengthened Aged Care Quality Standards are tied into the Act and will need it to be legislated to be introduced.
Unfortunately, the new Act was not presented to Parliament during their last sitting session. Labor and Coalition return to Canberra on September 9, with aged care urging for them to seal the deal right away so a Senate inquiry can ensure there are no problems before Christmas.
Council on the Ageing (COTA) CEO Pat Sparrow told The Sydney Morning Herald that these new laws must pass soon.
“The current uncertainty about what the future of aged care looks like is causing anxiety among older Australians,” she said.
“People deserve certainty so they can plan for the future. We need to see the detail of the legislation introduced into parliament in early September, so that older people can have a voice in the conversation through the Senate Inquiry process and in order for it to be able to be passed this year.
“Older Australians will want to have a say on whether the package is fair, affordable, easy to understand, transparent, equitable, and includes a strong safety net so that no one gets left behind.”
One of the biggest concerns surrounding the loss of aged care places is the number of providers closing down.
The most recent Quarterly Financial Snapshot of the aged sector shows that 47 residential aged care providers exited the sector between October and December 2023. Only 11 new providers entered the market. As for home care, 28 exited the sector in the same period, while 14 entered.
Experienced aged care accountant and Senior Partner at StewartBrown, Grant Corderoy, highlighted that patterns like this will see an additional 11,500 beds created over the next six years – but 32,7000 will be lost.
He said residential care demand is slowing down as more people opt to age at home, but an aggregate loss of $5 billion over the last five years has resulted in a lack of investment for new builds and refurbishment.
Other problems include providers not admitting new residents once a bed becomes available.
Tom Symondson, CEO of the Aged and Community Care Providers Association (ACCPA), said this is a rare occurrence but it is a sign of just how tough the financial situation is right now.
“People have been holding on by a thread, and we have started to see the trickle of closures grow,” he said.
“We’ve started to see that with some operators, even if they don’t close the home when someone moves out, they don’t fill the bed and they shut it.
“That is starting to increase and we are well past it being a trickle to it being a waterfall or a torrent because people have been hanging on too long. How many industries do you know that have lost $5 billion over five years that are in a good shape? Because that, to me, indicates we’re not in a good place at all.”
Predictions by the Aged Care Taskforce show the sector needs an additional $37 billion over the next two and a half decades to build enough places and provide enough services for an older Australian population.
The illustration attached to this article may resemble a modern prison infirmary, with eight beds close together, and little or no visitor accommodation. On the other hand, with the barriers and taping in the foreground, it could resemble a crime scene from a Netflix movie set. When we are talking about ‘beds’ it really dehumanises the quality of care that our elders want and deserve. If aged care is diminished to merely being the financial return on beds utilised until the death of the occupant, we are not talking about the proposed model for client centred care, which is based on evidence, and looks at empowering older people to live a self-determined life, enjoying relationships with family and community, and continuing, as far as possible, to retain their independence and decision making capabilities.