royal commission
Getting it right
LASA CEO says what older Aussies need , deserve and expect should drive reform .
Sean Rooney interviewed by Conor Burke
A lot of the commentary has been around those points of difference . But we need to start with , as the Commissioners have said , “ What is it that older Australians need and deserve and expect ?” And then that should drive everything that comes next . I would suggest that the structures that then support that outcome will be determined as we work through all the recommendations .
It has been a couple of months since the federal government released the final report from the aged care royal commission and , with the government not set to announce its full response until the May budget , the sector has had time to slowly digest the 148 recommendations .
Leading Aged Services Australia chief executive Sean Rooney joined Aged Care Insite to give us his thoughts on the final report .
We discuss the commissioners ’ two proposals for the governance of the sector , the home care waitlist , financial transparency and the Australian Aged Care Collaboration .
ACI : What were your first impressions of the final report ? SR : I think it reveals the things that we knew ; that there are challenges and failures in our broken aged care system . It ’ s a system that ’ s been found to have let down too many older Australians too many times . And it ’ s the system that ’ s found to be under-resourced to provide consistently high standards of care and support when and where it ’ s needed .
They ’ ve handed down their findings and given us a very clear blueprint of how to realise a better aged care system .
Commissioner Pagone recommends an independent commission model , while Commissioner Briggs recommends a government leadership model . Have you and LASA had a chance to think about which model you prefer ? The approach we ’ ve taken within the sector is to say , “ What they agree on , is what we all agree on .” And that ’ s the total overhaul of the aged care system . And it starts with reimagining what is the purpose of the aged care system and re-imagining care in Australia for older Australians now and into the future .
22 agedcareinsite . com . au
“ We ’ re all in
agreement . This is not about politics . This is about doing what ’ s right .
Is there something to be said for trying Commissioner Pagone ’ s idea given successive governments over many years have got it wrong ? Where Commissioner Pagone is probably coming from is that the report states on numerous occasions that the needs of government , in particular balancing the national budget , has been put ahead of the needs of older Australians . So it ’ s probably no surprise that he has landed on a recommendation to take that out of the hands of government . My view would be let ’ s look at all of the recommendations aligned to that primary outcome of having individuals and their needs met at the centre of this system . I ’ m hoping the structures that are required to enable and support that then become apparent through that process . There ’ s a lot of things that will be dependent upon other things , so let ’ s do that heavy lifting , let ’ s do that work , so then we can come up with a design of the system and then the implementation program . That ’ s where the rubber will hit the road in what we implement , and how we do that , and how we measure that as we go will be fundamentally important to ensure we deliver on the intent of what the Commissioners have put as the desired outcome for the nation .
Are there any parts of the report that providers are worried about ? There ’ s a couple of things that have come up in conversations within the sector and with members , but firstly , an acknowledgement and thanks to the commissioners for doing a thorough job , that the findings are by and large reflective of the system that has been the lived experience of aged care providers , workers , and sadly for a number of older Australians and their families that have experienced failures in that system .
I think the acknowledgement that providers and workers have been under-resourced for a long time means there is hope