The Australian Government has announced that 100 more aged care places in rural and remote areas will be made available through the Multi-Purpose Service.
The Multi-Purpose Service is a government-funded initiative to ensure that older Australians in rural and remote areas receive access to quality integrated health and aged care services, regardless of location.
Currently, the Australian Government funds 3,293 residential care places across 183 sites run by 29 providers through the Multi-Purpose Service, according to the Department of Health and Aged Care.
To ensure that standards are maintained between services, all Multi-Purpose Service providers are assessed against the Multi-Purpose Service Aged Care Module. This contributes to the overall accreditation of each provider.
Six aspects are assessed during the accreditation process and include:
One in three older Australians live in rural and remote parts of Australia, as per recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Eligible aged care facilities are encouraged to apply to receive funding through the Multi-Purpose Service, with applications open until 2pm AEST on October 25, 2024.
However, to be eligible to apply to be a Multi-Purpose Service, providers must contribute to their rural or remote community with residential aged care, residential respite care or home care and be flexible in the delivery of services to suit possible changing needs in the community.
For providers looking to find out more about the program, what it involves and eligibility criteria, visit the Department of Health and Aged Care website.
Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells expressed the importance of allowing older Australians from rural areas to choose where they receive care later in life.
“More residential care places mean that more older people in rural and remote Australia can live near their loved ones,” she said.
“Combined health and aged care services are integral to providing quality aged care in rural and remote communities.
“The additional 100 places for new, or existing Multi-Purpose Services, will make it easier for older people in rural and remote Australia to access care when they need it.”
However, providers that are approved for extra places by the Multi-Purpose Services have ‘four years to make places available’ and this can be extended by another two years in certain situations, as per information on the Department of Health and Aged Care website.
Such places are referred to as being provisionally allocated. This happens when a provider applies for funded places but extra time may be required in certain situations to facilitate care or create space, e.g. when building works are being completed.
Providers applying in allocation rounds for places may do so for an existing service or if a provider is looking to create a new service in rural or remote areas of Australia.
Unfortunately, there are still 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.
Read more about the impact of insufficient spaces in aged care facilities in this article: Not enough beds: Aged care funding crisis a cause for concern.
