6. ‘60% of the workforce are
personal care workers.
Increasingly, these
workers are non-English
speaking people from
diverse cultural
backgrounds. These
employees are
overworked, underpaid
and not valued.’
8. Our biological ageing journey
Optima
Normal Functional Chronic
l Disease Disability
health impairment Condition/s
health
Service Strategies
Prevent Alleviate
Mitigate Support
Well-being
Delay
Care
Manage
9.
10. Providers
Unquestionably, the hallmark of
potent partnerships is that they
are built on trust, powerful
relationships, shared learning
and knowledge, and a genuine
sense of shared purpose.
Active Service and Partnering Development Southern
Metropolitan Region, Final Report, Click Consulting,
July 2009
The
Families Person
17. Improvement cycle
Preferred
future Plan Do
Tools,
Priorities
Supports &
GAP and Evaluation
Initiatives Method
Current Act Review
state
17
18. Implement wider
Progressive Learn Use T
impact
Impact on support functions
Asses
Adapt Learn Apply
s
Learn Use Train Publish Learn Use T
Pilot initiative Apply to different site
Learn Use Train Apply
Apply to a different service
Learning by doing type
Training for purpose Learn Use T
Ripple effect – wide impact Implement wider
18
21. Move naturally
Make your home, community and workplace present you with
natural ways to move.
Right outlook
Know and be able to articulate your sense of purpose.
Ensure your day is punctuated with periods of calm.
.
Eat and drink wisely
Belong to the right
tribe
Surround yourself with the right
people.
21
So what is happening in the aged care space?The key driver of aged care is, of course, old people, and the chart on your screen shows one of the demographic changes that analysts predict for Australia. We are both living longer, and there are more people reaching retirement age!In 2012 the first “baby boomers” reach retirement age and there is an increasing number of them following.The demographers are predicting a 4 fourfold increase in the number of people accessing aged care by 2050 – this means 4 times the number of people over 75 years old.Our aged care services are going to have to respond to this increase in demand.
While there is an overall message to this slide, it also introduces a number of useful concepts, so I might go through these one-by-one.The bottom, brown arrow is intended to give a sense of each of our biological ageing journeys. This is an inevitable part of life, with each person experiencing this at a different rate.The more colourful arrow above suggests that there are strategies and ways that we can prevent, delay, mitigate or alleviate some of the conditions of ageing. Ideally these strategies are applied by the various services that make up the aged care system.Finally we illustrate how these strategies are funded. And as you will notice, there are some response that are not funded at all.The message in this is that the aged care system has evolved over 30 plus years in response to the particular issues and the politics of the day. Many of the first aged care services were in fact congregation-led response built on church land in the 50’s and 60’s. These then often grew becoming hostels or nursing homes, at the same time as governments provided funding support for the growing number of people needing this sort of care.What we have today though is a complex web of funding, around which services are constructed, and in many cases relies on the good work of the professionals on the ground to ensure that older people get the support or care they need.
To take this one step further, let’s look quickly at the government policy agenda.On the left hand side are the various forms of housing available for older people. Some of this housing is supported by government, some operates under the Retirement Villages Act and is funded by the people buying a unit.In the middle are the various government-supported funding arrangements for older people to access support. The current arrangements are fragmented, with quota’s (or ratio’s) for each type of support.On the right hand side the Productivity Commission recommended a more flexible and streamlined system. This is the direction that the government is moving in, and broadly what was announced in their Living Longer, Living Better Aged Care Reform agenda.The full details are still to be released, and while the policy is headed in the right direction, unfortunately it has been overlaid with a budget reduction at the same time.
The last issue I want to highlight, is that of the workforce.We have growing numbers of old people, and at the same time fewer people in the workforce. Aged care is a people intensive service and this means that workforce will be an increasing issue in the future.
We have researched both the conditions of ageing, and the strategies that can work to prevent, delay or mitigate these conditions as illustrated in the slide. Give some examples.
We also recognised that there are already not enough resources to go around, and these are likely to be stretched even further.Consequently we need to work together and use what resources are already available.And again you probably already do some of this better in the rural areas, but you will still know that there are gaps in what is available.
We also recognised that dementia is going to be one of the biggest challenges facing our services in the future.Depending on who you can believe, it is predicted that up to 40% of all people accessing aged care services in 2020 will have some form of dementia.
The AgeWell system has resonated with staff and clients and been well received by government.Just to explain a bit further it has four levels of meaning as illustrated.
We also understand that each community is different and therefore each community will have to develop a menu of services appropriate for their needs and situations.
