industry & reform
MAIN TAKEAWAYS FROM TABLE 1
The
long
wait
Tiered assistance and care
model can fill service gaps.
By Safdar Ali
G
overnment figures show there are
more than 69,000 older Australians
waiting for their approved level
package, and who are without an interim
package, as at 30 September last year.
Although the federal government
announced an additional 14,000 higher care
packages as part of the 2018–19 budget,
and the recent delivery of 10,000 packages,
it falls well short of meeting ever-increasing
demand based on the government’s target
ratio of 4.5 per cent for people over the age
of 70 by 2022.
Our Brisbane-based agency has found
that it can take up to two years to access a
government-funded home care package
in some areas. This shortfall in supply
may result in unnecessary early entry into
residential aged care for some of those
eagerly waiting.
Outside of government-provided home
support and care packages, piecemeal
assistance services are often provided by
the operators of seniors’ living communities.
However, coherent, tiered, fee-for‑service
support and care that addresses the
spectrum of support and care needs are not
commonly available in these communities.
ASSISTED LIVING PACKAGES
Fee-for-service assisted living packages are
one way of addressing the service and care
needs gap between independent living and
residential aged care.
16 agedcareinsite.com.au
Many people are used to the government
being ‘the payer’ for care and health needs.
However, there is a growing segment of
older Australians with a capacity to pay
for care and support driven by societal
factors such as newfound wealth from
the sale proceeds of their homes, greater
superannuation, a lessening of the intent
of past generations to ‘leave money for
the kids’ and a desire to live as well as they
can now. Most of all, they wish to defer
admission to residential aged care.
I propose a model of tiered assistance and
care delivered in seniors’ communities that
would provide certainty of continuous care
for those with deteriorating wellbeing who
cannot wait months, let alone years, for a
government-funded assisted living package.
Such models of service are available in
Canada and northern Europe, for example,
but have not been implemented to a
considerable extent in Australia. The handful
of operators who have done so have found
this approach meets market demand and
customer needs, and fills a major gap in the
continuum of care.
At two modern campuses in Wheelers Hill
in Melbourne, New Zealand-based Ryman
Healthcare provides assisted living, fee-for-
service packages to fill the support and care
gap and enhance the consumer experience
offered by traditional lifestyle retirement
villages. Ryman responds to the spectrum
of residents’ assistance and care needs with
tiered packages and optional occasion of
care services between the tiers, such as help
with medication and wound management.
Another example is Aveo’s recently
opened higher-end development
in Newstead, Brisbane, which offers
modern independent living, assisted living
and residential aged care. Like Ryman
Healthcare, Aveo offers a mandatory base
package that includes mainly assistance
services, laundry and meals with some care
services. Additional services and care are
available as an optional package – up to 14
hours per week and on an hourly basis.
Table 1 summarises some fees and benefits
associated with government-delivered
home care packages and a selected
fee-for-service package delivered into a
seniors’ living campus.
• A
t levels 1 and 2, depending on the
income levels of a care recipient, the cost
to a consumer of government-funded and
the selected fee-for-service packages are
similar.
• I mmediate availability of packages and
24/7 onsite care in the event of an
emergency are compelling features of the
fee-for-service packages.
ASSISTED LIVING ADVANTAGES
Coherent, tiered, assisted living packages
delivered within a seniors’ living environment
offer advantages for both consumers and
providers compared with government-
funded at-home care and such services
delivered into the broader community.
Consumers
• 2
4/7 onsite support in case of either an
emergency or a simple, but immediate,
need for assistance
• R
eady and timely assistance with daily
living tasks, assistance and care
• M
ore long-term relationships with the care
giver – the shift to consumer selection of
the providers with government-funded
packages has led to dis-integration of
delivery among service providers
• L
ess administration – if residents are
living in a seniors’ community compared
with seeking care services from different
providers
• M
ore personalised care with more likely
fewer provider staffing changes
• G
reater value for money with providers
in a seniors’ community not needing to
recoup downtime through travelling
• G
reater chance to remain in their home for
as long as they can and defer or prevent a
move to residential aged care.
Operators of seniors’ communities
• M
eaningful assistance and care offering
– to provide the compelling proposition
for a move to a seniors’ living environment
– not just companionship, activities and
accommodation
• L
ower cost delivery – with care recipients
located close together in a village or
apartment building
• A
nother revenue stream from care and
support services
• G
reater range of accommodation choices
– laundry and full kitchen areas are not