November must be final delay, say execs

The decision to delay the new Aged Care Act was announced last week, pushing the start date from July to November. But Whiddon chief executive officer Chris Mamarelis told Australian Ageing Agenda both the government and the sector must be ready for this new deadline as it can’t be deferred any longer.

“It’s critical that the government release the rules and the information we need, because there cannot be any more extensions,” Mr Mamarelis told AAA.

“We need to just get on with things and bring this to life, because there’s a lot of people depending on us.”

Mr Mamarelis said Whiddon welcomed the extension, and that they had put a lot of effort into being reform ready but felt the timeline was too short.

“Like many providers and the peak body, Whidden had always said that the timeline was short and we needed more time. There was a lot of work that had to be done. And the reality is, the window opened in January,” he said.

“There are obviously gaps, there are obviously rules and legislative updates that are required that prevent you from progressing, so that has to be released in a timely manner so that we can weave that into our program, and things like education and communication can be staggered out as something that’s a little more reasonable now, because it’s no good just saturating employees’ inboxes and families with communication [and] education, because that’s just box ticking,” he added.

Juniper chief executive officer Russell Bricknell told AAA the decision to defer the Act was a clear acknowledgment of the scale and complexity of reform across the aged care sector, calling the reforms “too big and important to be rushed.”

But he is also concerned the delay risks pushing out the timeline for older Australians to receive timely and rights-based care.

“We will keep working with our teams to ensure the right systems are in place to guarantee continuity of care and services for our customers throughout the transition; and we will continue to provide our customers with the necessary information to make informed decisions, particularly regarding the new Support at Home program,” he said.

“We will also continue to advocate for the resources and support older Australians deserve, most urgently Home Care Packages.”

Chief executive of Council on the Ageing Australia Patricia Sparrow joins other stakeholders this week by calling on the government to continue to release extra packages of support for people living at home and to reduce the home care package wait list.

“We don’t want to see older Australians continuing to experience long wait times for the support they need to remain independent at home,” she told AAA.

“No one should be waiting for longer than 30 days for these critical supports.”

The delay on the Aged Care Act to 1 November was necessary to ensure older people had enough time to understand what the upcoming changes mean for them, she said. But the additional time must be used wisely.

“The system must be ready to go from 1 November,” she said.