OPINION
THE REFORM TASK AHEAD—IT’S UP TO US! CONSULTATION WITH AGED CARE PROVIDERS MUST BE A KEY PART OF THE PROCESS
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t is more than 100 days since the Federal Government announced its response to the landmark final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, and we find ourselves in familiar territory.
Sean Rooney Chief Executive Officer Leading Age Services Australia
else of substance. Among the Royal Commission’s 148 recommendations is an implementation plan which involves aged care sector representatives in a structured consultation process.
The excitement resulting from the Government’s $17.7 billion package for aged care—a record amount—in the May Budget has abated and the momentum for change is in danger of becoming bogged down in bureaucratic process without the inclusion of the aged care sector.
Disappointingly, this appears not to be happening. Rather, the Government is going it alone, with the bureaucracy working on changes and then communicating them to the sector—without real consultation of those with the skills and experience of service delivery to aged care recipients.
As a sector we are wanting to translate the Government’s high level blueprint of ‘five pillars’ of reform into a detailed implementation plan so that we can realise a better aged care system that avoids the mistakes of the past. It’s up to us to do our part, and we need to do this in partnership with the Government.
There is a sense of unease and growing frustration within the sector that the process of reform is turning out to be not at all what was expected after the Royal Commission.
The start of this journey has been promising in places, with some meetings and Government-run webinars, but little
The aged care sector, led by the Australian Aged Care Collaboration (AACC), has moved to put the Government on notice over its lack of consultation in the months since the Budget.
LASA CEO Sean Rooney has been busy speaking to the media about major changes facing aged care in Australia, on behalf of age services providers and older Australians.
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