REPRESENTATIVES of 30 Frankston and Mornington Peninsula aged care centres last week attended a meeting with Assistant Minister for Social Services Senator Mitch Fifield to voice their concerns over this month’s federal government changes to the aged care sector.
MP for Dunkley Bruce Billson invited Senator Fifield to brief the gathering of senior executives representing aged care centres across the peninsula following implantation of a range of “user pays” changes to sector.
The national Living Longer, Living Better aged care reforms, which came into force on 1 July, could see some elderly residents of aged-care homes pay up to 50 per cent more in fees.
The most significant change is a new means-test to determine each resident’s “fair contribution, if any, to their care and accommodation, based on both their assets and income”, Senator Fifield said. The new means-test arrangements will also apply to home care.
Other changes include more home care packages to help older people stay in their own homes, more choice to pay for accommodation and services, such as daily payments and refundable deposits, and transparent accommodation prices and services, with all residential aged-care providers required to publish the maximum amount they charge.
No one will pay more than $25,000 a year or a $60,000 lifetime fee for means-tested residential care, while family homes will be exempt from the means test if there is a spouse or other protected person still living there.
The changes have been largely welcomed by the sector, however questions have been asked over the suddenness of the policy’s introduction, with service providers scrambling to get “up to speed”.
“The consortium is the first of its kind in the electorate which combines services from Village Glen (Rosebud), Andrew Kerr Frail and Aged Care Centre (Mornington) and Village Baxter (Frankston),” Mr Billson said.
Senator Fifield described the forum as “very productive”, acknowledging the breadth of changes would take some time for the industry to absorb.
The CEO of Mornington’s Andrew Kerr Frail and Age Care centre, Eileen Prudden said that while the changes presented challenges to both residents and services providers, they were necessary and inevitable.
“With our aging population and shrinking workforce, there was really no choice other than to make these sorts of changes,” she said.
“Change is never easy, especially for elderly people, but increasing costs and less tax payers to foot the bill means people have to pay more for aged care.”
