A mirror on care for older Australians

The final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety will hold a mirror up to our nation, reflecting the value we place on our elders and how we care for and support them when they need it.

These reflections have been critical during the Royal Commission and all of us must be prepared to make changes — in what will be a once-in-a-lifetime transformation of the Australian aged-care system.

While we continue to protect older Australians from coronavirus, what we do as a sector in the coming months will have fundamental impacts for older Australians and the people and organisations who care for them.

Before the pandemic, aged care was already facing significant challenges, with threats to the viability and sustainability of the care that older people want, need and deserve. This was reflected by the Royal Commission recently, with Counsel Assisting saying residential aged-care providers were being squeezed and must choose between financial viability and providing the level of care that’s the minimum standard required to support their residents — an impossible situation.

Despite extensive advocacy by leaders like Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), the system settings around policy, regulation and financing have been out of kilter with the needs and expectations of older people as they age.

Also, the pandemic has widened the cracks in our aged-care system into chasms. At the same time, studies show that community attitudes to aged-care services remain predominantly negative — this is a challenge we must resolve.

We must enact the change we want to see because the story of aged care and the community’s understanding will only change when we change. We are committed to doing better — but who exactly is going to lead this? Is it going to be the government that makes improvements? Is it going to be our communities? Is it going to be aged-care providers? Our sector cannot sit back and let others dictate what ‘quality’ is, or have rules and processes implemented that don’t work for older Australians or those who care for them. This is our time to start thinking and doing things differently.

We have to emphasise that we are about care and highlight the importance of our sector to communities and the nation — that we are about meeting basic human needs, underpinned by meaningful relationships and delivered with compassion.

Celebrating Australia’s respect for ageing and the capacity to live longer lives to the full is a sign of our success as a society. Our focus needs to be on providing the best possible care for older people. So we don’t talk about ‘compliance’, we talk about ‘excellence’. We don’t talk about ‘facilities’, we talk about ‘homes’. We don’t talk about ‘consumers’, we talk about our ‘valued elders’. Where others may see ‘consumers’, ‘compliance’ and ‘service types’, we see ‘individuals’, ‘accomplishment’ and ‘making a difference’. We must embrace this mindset universally across our sector and help spread this into the community. It’s about sustaining quality of life as best we can — this is what our sector is about.

While we don’t oppose rules for quality, we should not be defined by meeting minimum regulatory standards, or reporting schemes or funding instruments. We need to be defined by the meaningful and measurable differences we make in people’s lives. That is why we have to change, we have to re-shape and re-imagine the story of care. What we have to fight against is the inertia in the current system. The future is going to be about doing things differently — and we must prepare for this right now.

The Prime Minister has said: “… the Royal Commission will greatly aid us in that quest to join together to focus on the matters that need to be addressed in aged care … the Budget … will have a comprehensive response to the Royal Commission’s recommendations”.

LASA has been on this journey for years — being more assertive, more expansive and more collaborative in working to realise a better aged-care system.

In December 2020, we were praised by the Australian Associations Forum for providing “exemplary leadership and services to members under pressure”. This approach includes our focus on working together to explain to the community why aged care matters and the value our sector brings to the nation. By improving Australia’s understanding of this, we will be better placed to hold decision-makers to account to deliver the aged-care system that meets the needs of older Australians.

We need to transform the aged-care system so older Australians get the care they need, and the workers and organisations who care for them are enabled to deliver the best quality care and services possible. If we want to make Australia the best place to age, it means more understanding and action within the community and increased connections across the generations.

Our commitment to realise a new system must be backed up with all means necessary including funding and processes, along with the right responsibilities and decision-making across all levels of government, age services, families, community groups, towns, suburbs and regional areas. It requires fundamental partnerships between people needing care, care givers, providers, families and advocates.

We have to ensure there are strong links across the health system because we know the importance of cooperation between aged care, primary care, acute care, social services and mental health — particularly as we battle the pandemic. We need to acknowledge the challenges and focus on the opportunities. The best way to take advantage of this upcoming transformation is to channel our energy into the wave of change.

We will work hard to translate the Royal Commission’s findings and recommendations into practical actions and meaningful outcomes.

LASA will ensure that older Australians receive care and support with quality, safety and compassion, always — delivered by passionate and professional aged-care workers employed by high-performing, respected and sustainable aged-care service providers.

Sean Rooney, CEO of Leading Age Services Australia.

Main image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/pikselstock