More engagement in prevention can help providers

Australia – including aged care providers – needs to get serious about health literacy, says David Moran – chief executive officer of aged care and retirement living provider Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & VIC).

Why? Because educating the population on the benefits of reablement, building strength, using allied health, regular exercise and meaningful engagement is the key to reversing frailty.

“The more understanding, access and support people have to use these services, the longer they can remain living at home with good health and wellbeing,” Mr Moran told Australian Ageing Agenda.

Because preventing and reversing avoidable conditions compresses morbidity to the end of life and reduces the time people will need in a residential aged care home and hospital, Mr Moran added.

“Ideally it should also push back on the need for personal care in home care services. This would relieve significant pressure on the health system at a time when the older population is burgeoning.”

Beyond the benefits there are risks for the aged care sector – a key partner in the overall health system – if aged care providers don’t act now to embed allied health support, teams and programs into their services, he said.

“The whole health system is at risk now. Other than technological advancement, it is hard to contemplate the system’s coping mechanisms in five to 10 years’ time when the numbers of older people grow considerably and need to engage with the system that is full now.

“That pressure is felt by the whole system including aged care operators who rely on well-functioning primary and acute health sectors to provide quality care. Therein lies the risk to operators. The more engagement in prevention, the less reliance on longer periods of acute care which will ultimately build capacity in the system.”

By not acting, aged care providers are also failing to deliver person-centred care, says clinician, researcher and educator Dr Jennie Hewitt – who is general manager of clinical research and reablement at not-for-profit aged care provider Whiddon.

“Providers who do not embed allied health into their services are depriving their clients the opportunity to access evidence-based physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and cognitive reablement. These are essential components of life; we are much more than biomedical beings,” Dr Hewitt told Australian Ageing Agenda.

“Allied health professionals focus on these unique aspects of the person, and build programs to match their aspirations, around their comorbidities and conditions. This is truly person-centred care.”

Dr Hewitt also agrees on the need for education – particularly when it comes to busting myths about what is and isn’t normal ageing.

“Too many people think that once you get older it is an irreversible, slippery slope towards physical decline. It is true that there are cellular changes as we age, however, exercise is like medicine, with the correct type, dose, and frequency so many aspects can be reversed,” said Dr Hewitt.

“I have worked with people who walked taller and stronger at 90 than they had at 80, by committing to a regular evidence-based exercise prescription. Their sense of pride as they accomplish the unexpected is priceless.”

Leaders share experience and expertise with sector

Mr Moran and Dr Hewitt are among over 30 industry leaders who will take to the stage at the Positive Ageing Summit in Adelaide on 28-29 May to share their expertise and experiences of embedding allied health and reablement services.

The two-day event will showcase research evidence that has been effectively translated into practice and financially sustainable operating models – areas Dr Hewitt and Mr Moran and their respective organisations are leading in.

Whiddon’s commitment to reablement includes its Research and Positive Ageing Hub.

“Our research team has the support and flexibility to design, test, evaluate and scale a variety of positive ageing projects. Some examples include Keep Dancing, Elaborative Reminiscing, Exercise4Life and Live it UP – our falls prevention program, designed to help older people get up, stay up and live it up,” said Dr Hewitt.

At Southern Cross Care (SA, NT & VIC), the organisation’s Our Better for life framework embeds health promotion and healthy ageing principles into all services and ensures practices are continuously improved based on current evidence, said Mr Moran.

Initiatives of the multidisciplinary approach include community facing health and fitness centres providing allied health, exercise, reablement and restorative care services online and in-person to thousands of older people each year, Dementia Respite Cottages based on a healthy ageing approach, and gyms in all aged care homes.

The gyms are staffed by qualified professionals looking after the physical health and reablement of residents while lifestyle teams look after the mental, social and cultural wellbeing of residents.

Mr Moran said it was important for the sector to work together and share its knowledge of evidence-based practice to improve care for all older people.

“As we continue through a period of aged care reform there are many challenges facing our sector, but by sharing practical examples of health promotion, allied health and reablement in action we can take positive steps towards addressing some of these challenges,” he told AAA.

And real-life stories make such a difference, added Dr Hewitt.

“We need statistics and evidence to promote our work, but it seems to me that it is the stories that show where allied health has made a real difference to people’s lives that make the impact.”

Positive Ageing Summit is an initiative of Australian Ageing Agenda and Community Care Review – find out more on the Positive Ageing Summit 2025 website or book your individual and group-discounted tickets here