Residential aged care: Proposed alternative models for allocating places - Australian Government Department of Health

Response 753075591

Before your start, please advise your consent to publish response

1. We would like your permission to publish your online survey responses to the discussion paper. Please indicate your publishing preference:

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Publish response (include both my name and organisation's name)

Publish response, but keep my name private (include my organisation's name)

Publish response anonymously (remove both my name and organisation's name)

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Before you start, please tell us about yourself

5. What stakeholder category do you most identify with?

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Consumer

Carer or other consumer representative

Consumer advocacy organisation

Consumer peak body

Carer peak body

Approved provider of residential aged care

Approved provider of flexible aged care

Approved provider of home care

Aged care provider peak body

Provider of private aged care or seniors accommodation

Aged Care Assessment Team/Service

Aged care worker

Health professional

Workforce association or union

Primary Health Network

State and territory government

Local council

Commonwealth agency

Lender or investor/financier

Other

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not-for-profit

for-profit

government

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operating a single aged care home only

operating 2 to 6 aged care homes

operating 7 to 19 aged care homes

operating 20 or more aged care homes

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mostly offering single rooms with ensuites

mostly offering single rooms with shared bathrooms

mostly offering shared rooms with an ensuite

mostly offering shared rooms with common bathroom

mostly offering ‘other’ room type

6. Where does your organisation operate (if applicable)? Otherwise, where do you live?

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New South Wales

Australian Capital Territory

Victoria

Queensland

South Australia

Western Australia

Northern Territory

Tasmania

All states and territories in Australia

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In a remote area

In a rural area

In a regional area

In a metropolitan area or major city

Current arrangements

7. What works well under the current residential aged care allocation and places management model for consumers and/or providers?

Strengths of current arrangements for consumers

Places generally available in locations they need them.

Strengths of current arrangements for providers

Known number of licences. Ability to apply for more if expansion required.

8. Are there other issue/s with the current model for the allocation and management of places for residential aged care that have not been covered in this paper?

Other issues with current arrangements for consumers

Other issues with current arrangements for providers

Design principles for alternative allocation models

9. Are the proposed design principles appropriate?

Please select one item

Yes

Please elaborate on your response

They do not provide suficient flexibility and certainty for providers.

10. Are there any other principles that you consider should be included?

Please select one item

Yes

Model 1: Improve the ACAR and places management - Overall model

11. What are your views on the suggested improvements proposed under this model?

Good idea to try to reduce the excessive numbers of non-operational places.
Does not apear to be significantly different to the existing arrangements.

Model 1: Improve the ACAR and places management - Key design considerations

12. How can this model ensure/encourage adequate supply of and equitable access to residential aged care and residential respite care (aside from increasing funding or revising the funding model), including:

in rural, regional and remote areas and other thin markets?

Continue to allocate places based on need/demand.
Introduce incentives for additional places where demand exists.

for consumers from vulnerable cohorts (such as Special Needs Groups, consumers with dementia)?

As above.

14. What other key changes could be made to the existing ACAR and/or places management arrangements to encourage a more consumer driven and competitive residential aged care sector?

Other key changes to ACAR

More felxibility in terms of where the demand actually is rather than a forulaic model.

Model 2: Assign residential aged care places to consumers - Exploring the potential impacts

35. What would be the overall potential impact of this model (consider benefits, costs, and risks) on you or the organisation or stakeholder group you represent?

Introduce too much uncertainty. Would make the provision of places virtually untenable.
No incentive to incerease the number of places if there is no certainty that they will be filled.
May end up with heavy focus on highly populated metropolitan areas to the detriment of regional and rural areas.

36. What do you think might be the impact on the residential aged care sector overall?

Negative and additional uncertainty and risk.

40. How might the allocation, eligibility criteria and/or administrative provisions (e.g. terms of repayment) for capital grants allocated through the ACAR need to change to best support the needs and objectives of a more market based model?

Hard to see how the grant could be linked to provision of services if the services themselves are outside the control of the provider i.e. in the hands of the consumer.

General views

42. Aside from the two proposed models, how else could we encourage greater consumer choice and a more consumer driven market in residential aged care?

Given the relatively high occupancy levels nationally and much higher in some locations there is not much scope for choice - consumers have to go where there are available places.

43. Do you have any other overall comments you wish to provide?

Number of non-operational places is way too high. this needs to be brought under better control immediately. Much tighter control needs to be implemented on places between allocation and making operational.