New Aged Care Act Risks Vulnerable Elders Missing Out on Care

Uniting NSW.ACT is calling for the federal government to urgently bring forward the planned review  of aged care accommodation funding for clients who cannot cover the cost. From the November start of the new Aged Care Act, wealthier people in aged care will contribute more towards their accommodation but under the new system financially vulnerable older people are at risk of being squeezed out.

Emma Maiden, Uniting NSW.ACT Director Advocacy & External Relations, says “aged care cannot be equitable if it assumes a base level of wealth or home ownership, as much of our system still does.”

Speaking on Thursday at the Shaping the Future of Aged Care conference in Sydney, Ms Maiden says the government must review how the new system is working sooner rather than later. 

“If the government doesn’t increase the supported accommodation supplement, they risk people without means increasingly being deprioritised in favour of residents who can afford to pay more,” she says. 

As the largest provider of support to older people of limited means in NSW and the ACT, Uniting is acutely aware of how the aged care framework functions as a safety net for older people in need.

Providers receive a fixed daily accommodation payment from the government for clients of lower means in lieu of the income generated by the refundable accommodation deposits or daily accommodation payments wealthier residents pay.

“The danger in the new arrangement lies with older people without means, who may be overlooked by aged care providers under financial pressure because they cannot make accommodation deposits,” Ms Maiden says.

Consider the story of a gentleman from the Central Coast recently admitted to one of our Sydney aged care homes late on a Friday afternoon.

Services had spent the week trying to find accommodation for him in his local area – to keep him close to friends and his health services that knew his medical history.

With a cherry-picking system now potentially emerging, where aged care operators feel under pressure to make decisions about who they can afford to house, by Friday, services were desperate.

The gentleman was brought to Sydney where Uniting staff helped settle him into an unfamiliar place where he stayed for a month until accommodation was found for him closer to home.

The sector is operating at 94% occupancy overall, with many homes at 100%. For people relying on the government’s support, this inability to find a residential aged care bed, close to community, or at all, will become increasingly common so long as the accommodation supplement paid by the government for people without means is not reviewed and increased.

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