Above: Screen grab of the new 'Australians Deserve to Age Well' website

By Yasmin Noone

In 2011, the National Aged Care Alliance promised the sector it would petition, campaign and lobby Canberra as hard as it could to make 2012 the year of aged care reform.

This week, the umbrella body of 28 aged-care related organisations launched its new aged care reform campaign, Australians Deserve to Age Well, in an almost final effort to heighten community, political and sector-wide support before the 2012/13 Federal Budget is announced by Treasury in May.

The NACA campaign, which has already attracted widespread media attention from around the country, embodies a sector-wide call – from key aged care organisations, trade unions, providers, consumer advocacy and employer groups – for urgent government action to move “stalled aged care reform” forward and solve the aged care “crisis” currently at hand.

Chief executive of COTA, Ian Yates, said NACA understands the competing pressures the government currently faces and realises that the timeframe in which the government said it would act on aged care reform – during this term of government – has not yet passed.

But, he asks, if the government is keen to act why not act now or at least make an announcement guaranteeing specific plans to reform the sector?

“This is not just an issue for our older Australians now,” Mr Yates said .

“Stalling on reform today will have an effect on how well every Australian ages  over  the  next  40  years  and beyond.

“Both government and opposition must commit to implement the Productivity Commission’s recommendations now. We can’t afford to wait any longer.
 
“…We don’t see any reason why the government can’t say, ‘Yes. We will [now] announce that an aged care reform package will be included in the 2012 budget and then engage in the exercise where we …all sit around [the table and discuss] what shape that package will look like.

“...We don’t necessarily think that aged care reform starting in 2012 necessarily means a [huge] slice out of the 2012/13 budget. We recommend at least five years of phased implementation, with some immediate [and intermediate] budgetary implications.

“Why not start the reform process in 2012?”

The new Age Well campaign targets three major audiences – the general public, in a bid to raise community awareness about the need for reform; politicians, from both sides of government, to achieve a bi-partisan approach to reform; and the aged care sector, to encourage non-NACA members to jump on board the campaign bandwagon, think locally and act nationally.

“We are continuing to take the message to all politicians – not just the government- as with the kind parliament we have at the moment, we need the support of all parties across all benches,” he said.

“This campaign is another step towards raising the broader awareness of the need for reform to start now.”

The campaign also involves the launch of NACA's reform blueprint, Australians Deserve to Age Well- Preparing for Our Future Now (in conjunction with the Parliamentary Friends of Seniors) in front of an audience of politicians at Parliament House, Canberra, next week.

The final piece of the Age Well campaign pie is a new website which aims to raise public awareness and educate net-surfers about the need for and the process of reform.

Non-NACA members are invited to endorse the representative organisation’s cause by visiting the website, www.agewellcampaign.com.au, and registering as a campaign supporter.

Aged care providers and members of the general public can also upload their stories and share their thoughts about the need for reform on the site, like the campaign on Facebook and tweet about the campaign on Twitter.

“The Australians Deserve to Age Well campaign will highlight the inefficiencies in the current system and ask people to share their own experiences and challenges as they try and navigate through it.

“…People can show their support through the website and also impress on their local member of parliament that aged care reform needs to start happening now.
 
“[Providers] can also inform their clients, residents and their families about the campaign.

“…The message about reform needs to be conveyed [to government] by everyone.

“The more people pointed to the website and the more people who know about the campaign, the better.”

Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) federal secretary, Lee Thomas, agrees with Mr Yates. She said that unless reforms are committed to now, there is no way Australia can attract the predicted 500,000 more aged care workers needed by 2050.

“There is a shortage of around 20,000 nurses in aged care right now.

“Low pay and poor conditions  for all aged care workers, including personal  care workers,  also mean high staff turnover and  low retention rates. 
“Bipartisan commitment is needed now to improve the  working lives of all aged care workers or we’ll see a rapid decline in the quality of aged care in the short-term.”

Ms Thomas said the campaign highlights, not only necessity, but sector unity.

“This view is a consensus view about reform…We are all saying that reform is absolutely nessecary and that the federal government must start [aged care reform] in budget 2012.

“We are of one voice – 28 organisations all agree that reform is vitally important in the short-and-medium term.

“We are all of the view of without reform, we will never be able to fix the systematic issues currently embedded in the aged care sector.

“We have to reform funding and in reforming funding, we will [then] have money to pay workers a fair and competitive wage. Quality numbers of workers will also then be retained and retrained.

“That means residents and community care clients will get the quality care they deserve.

“It’s really a whole package [solution]…and the 28 organisations involved in NACA are of the one view that everything is important.

"It’s like a puzzle. You’ve got to put all the different pieces together to achieve a quality aged care sector, now and in the future.”

To visit the new campaign website, click here.