Don’t overreach on CDC, Kennett tells providers

Aged care providers need to educate the community that consumer directed care (CDC) cannot be “all things to all people” and while it will increase choice, that choice will nonetheless be limited, says former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett.

Aged care providers need to educate the community that consumer directed care (CDC) cannot be “all things to all people” and while it will increase choice, that choice will nonetheless be limited, says former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett.

Addressing providers at the Aged and Community Services (ACSA) national conference in Melbourne on Monday, Mr Kennett said that attempts by providers to offer unlimited choice would be unsustainable and would reduce services and outcomes overall.

“While I think CDC in concept is a great idea, the opportunity of unlimited entitlement will actually choke the beast altogether,” said Mr Kennett, who is chair of beyondblue.

Mr Kennett was speaking after the conference heard from a panel of providers and advisers who had discussed CDC and what organisations needed to do to prepare for its full implementation in July 2015.

He said that discussion had reminded him of what had happened to Australian municipal councils, many of which were financially unsustainable because they had attempted to provide a range of services that was too broad.

“Those in charge of them haven’t had the courage to say, look, we’re not here to provide everything; these are our priorities which we will provide well and ratepayers will either need to stand on their own two feet or find some other provision, because we don’t have resources to meet every demand,” he said.

Unless the public was educated about the ageing population and the resulting burden, the demands of CDC within the system would be too great, he said.

“However much we might think it’s a wonderful concept, that there should be CDC per se, consumers can’t have 100 choices that we all pick and choose, and to the level of quality that we expect. If we continue with that, then the care for most will be reduced.”

He advised providers to “take on board very seriously” the concept that CDC cannot be all things to all people.

“If you make available huge ranges of options, it takes time and energy, and you upset the ones who don’t want what it is you’re offering them, therefore the fundamental reason for your existence is going to be reduced.”

Where’s your clout?

Mr Kennett also discussed the need for aged care providers to better organise themselves in terms of advocating for both their clients and their employees. “Where’s your political clout? Who’s listening to you?” he asked.

“When you go to governments and you put forward an argument, yes they listen and yes they’re polite, but I don’t think the reaction is either long-term focussed or actually going to provide for what’s needed in the short-term. The other half of the equation is, who is the advocate that’s trying to change public opinion about [ageing]?”

He advised the sector to find common ground on some issues to give it the “political clout it does not have today”. The industry needed to think about positioning itself for at least the next 25 to 30 years, he said.

If stakeholders within the sector continued to work independently and did not think long-term, “then my great fear is the sort of stress we’re seeing now in your organisations, such as with finding staff, are going to become impossible to meet in the future.”

Tags: acsa, acsa 2013, beyondblue, cdc, jeff kennett,

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