The body in charge of overseeing the implementation of recommendations from the Aged Care Royal Commission has lashed the government’s efforts, saying it is taking “too long” to make critical changes to aged care.
The Office of the Inspector General of Aged Care (OIGAC), established in 2023 after being recommended by the royal commission, has released its first report into how the government is tracking on implementing the changes.
The royal commission made a total of 148 recommendations, which included drawing up new ‘rights-based’ aged care legislation, stronger governance of the aged care system, improving support for informal caregivers and volunteers and better workforce planning for professional aged care workers.
The OIGAC was particularly critical of delays in creating a new Aged Care Act and says recommendations intended to improve access to quality aged care services have not been actioned.
Other areas criticised included a lack of aged care information for older people and chronic workforce shortage at aged care facilities.
Improving aged care access
The report found too many people are still struggling to access aged care places when needed, and access to care has to be ‘rationed’ based on availability.
“The Inspector-General is disappointed that the government is not implementing this cornerstone reform,” the report reads.
“As a direct consequence, older Australians with assessed needs will continue to miss out or face long delays in accessing care.”
The OIGAC wants the government to reconsider this ration-based approach when it draws up the new Aged Care Act. However, they concede it will take much greater funding to be able to provide Aged Care to everyone who needs it and that it may take several budget cycles.
Improve aged care information and assessments
Part of accessing aged care services involves undergoing a needs assessment, usually undertaken by a doctor or other healthcare professional.
The OIGAC says this process needs further refinement, as it still taking far too long to get these assessments done and get people the care they need.
The assessment process needs to be more timely and more comprehensive,” the report says.
“Many Australians continue to wait too long for their assessment and too long to start receiving care. The Inspector-General considers there is a pressing need for government to provide more active face-to-face support for people seeking aged care.
Bolster the aged care workforce
The report acknowledges that difficulty in accessing aged care, or even getting adequate information on it in the first place, are both problems driven by a lack of staff in aged care.
The OIGAC is pushing the government to increase funding to the aged care sector in order to bolster that workforce.
“Workforce shortages are an ongoing problem in aged care,” the report says.
“Reforms are slowly progressing following the Royal Commission. The Inspector-General recognises the challenges, and calls on all levels of government to continue to work together to expedite the implementation of a broad suite of reforms to address systemic workforce issues.”
What now?
While the OIGAC was set up to monitor the implementation of the Aged Care Royal Commission, it doesn’t actually have any power to compel the government to carry out its recommendations.
But the report concludes that there is still significant work to be done and wants government agencies related to aged care to re-assess the implementation of the royal commission’s recommendations by 1 January 2025.
Have you or a loved one ever needed to access aged care? How did you find the process? Let us know in the comments section below.
Also read: We have too few aged care workers. Why? And what can we do about it?
