The Federal Government has today announced a $632.6 million investment in Australia’s aged care sector.
The new funding commitment includes an expansion of the Community Visitors Scheme, to address loneliness faced by many people as they age.
“The Government has committed an additional $34.4 million to expand the Community Visitors Scheme (CVS),” Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt said in a statement today.
The program will support more volunteers to provide companionship to senior Australians and will expand the number of CVS volunteers by 4,348 places, bringing the total number to 17,811. This responds to responds to Recommendation 44 of the Royal Commission, the Minister said.
The Government’s Support at Home Program for seniors will also be reworked, he said.
“Work is underway on the design of a new simpler, fairer and more transparent system to provide in-home aged care to enable senior Australians to remain in their own home for as long as they wish.”
This Support at Home Program, which will replace the Commonwealth Home Support Program, Home Care Packages Program, and the Short Term Restorative Care Program, will lead to greater transparency on administration fees and lower costs, he said.
“The Government will commence a process to establish new assessment arrangements which make the system simpler and more responsive to the needs of the individual in being assessed for care.
“Particular attention will be paid to meeting the needs of senior Australians from diverse backgrounds including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
Disability support for older Australians will also be addressed as part of the new plan announced today, with $229.3 million pledged over two years to assist with aligning Disability Support for Older Australians (DSOA) and prices with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
“The Government has obligations to provide continuity of support to people with disability aged 65 years and over, or 50 years and over for First Nations people who were not eligible for the NDIS at the time of implementation in 2012,” Mr Hunt said.
“There are currently about 2,850 senior Australians receiving disability services and support, though DSOA is a closed program, and the number of participants is decreasing over time.”
On average the cost of providing disability care services through DSOA is more than $210,500 per person per year.
Six million dollars will go toward delivering strong aged care prudential oversight, the Health Minister said.
“The Morrison Government is investing $6.3 million to ensure the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) is a strong, independent prudential regulator, with a clear mandate to collect financial and prudential information, undertake risk assessment of a provider’s compliance, assess financial viability, and engage with those at risk of failure.”Â
Currently these responsibilities are split between the Department of Health and the ACQSC.
“Implementation will be staged, with the ACQSC commencing a transition plan in 2021–22, then further building its prudential capability in 2022–23, including the appointment of a new Deputy Commissioner to drive and shape these new prudential responsibilities. The initial functions will begin transferring to the ACQSC from 1 July 2023.”
He said an additional $64.2 million will be committed to the support of a stronger aged care sector, by assisting residential aged care facilities (RACFs) experiencing financial difficulty to improve their business or to exit the market in a controlled manner.
“This investment includes an additional $38.8 million in grant funding to meet the demand for the Business Improvement Fund. This funding has helped aged care providers which submitted applications in the first round of the program – but were unable to be considered due to oversubscription –Â have applications assessed and funded.”
The Government’s plan also includes work to strengthen aged care provider governance arrangements, in response the the Aged Care Royal Commission’s final report.
“In the initial response to the Royal Commission’s final report, the Government announced new governance obligations from 1 March 2022 to lift leadership capability. As part of these improvements, aged care providers will be required to submit an annual statement that will include operational information which will be made publicly available (via My Aged Care),” Mr Hunt said.
“The Government is investing $27 million in the development of an information and communication technology (ICT) capability to support information to be gathered for the annual statement; additional information to be submitted by providers; and the annual statement to be publicly available on My Aged Care.”
