LASA: The ‘Competition’ of Aged Care Creates More Losers than Winners

Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) has responded to the Aged Care Accommodation Round (ACAR) saying for every winner of a place there were 16 losers.
The ACAR results have been released allocating aged care places in both residential and home care for older Australians, with the Department of Social Services receiving applications for 108,281 new home care places in respect of the 6,653 places advertised.
“For every one place made available by Government, there were 17 applications. Applicants were required to  demonstrate exceptional need,” says LASA CEO, Patrick Reid.
“LASA welcomes the increase in both residential and particularly homecare places; however we need to put this in perspective and understand for every winner of a place there were 16 losers where demand has been demonstrated and is required to care for older Australians.
“Although 11,196 residential places have been allocated, this is the first ACAR since 2012/13 and is actually a net reduction in real terms. There can be no further delays in ACAR as the same large increase in places will need to be repeated every year for the next 10 years in order to get close to meeting the demand for age services.”
LASA understands that Assistant Minister for Social Services, Senator Mitch Fifield has flagged his support for reforming the ACAR process.
“LASA supports reformation of the ACAR process to deliver greater access and equity in the distribution of both residential and homecare places and particularly a far more streamlined process to remove what is currently an arduous task for age service providers.
“Anecdotal evidence suggests that there is oversupply in some regions and under supply in others, so the process of allocation against demand needs urgent review.
“LASA is committed to a partnership model with Government that sees a co-design approach to every aspect of age services including the modelling to meet demand.
“With a high reliance on government funding and a critical need for private capital for infrastructure and services we will simply not meet our social obligations to appropriately care for older Australians unless we enter into a genuine partnership."