Grant Thornton launches retirement living survey
Village operators are being urged to share their views on the changing retirement landscape.
Business advisory group Grant Thornton is conducting a survey to investigate the changing landscape of the retirement village sector.
Held in conjunction with the Retirement Village Association (RVA) the retirement living survey will be used to collect up-to-date data on the profile of retirement villages throughout the country.
The national head of Grant Thornton’s aged care services, Cam Ansell said the survey will help to fill a significant data gap.
“Some of the information out there is pretty sketchy so we will be obtaining reliable figures about the age of facilities, the size of facilities and the types of amenities they offer,” he said.
“We will also be looking at the changes in what people are looking for. Single bedrooms and bed-sits made up over 60 per cent of the building stock three decades ago but now people are wanting two or three bedrooms with studies.”
The survey will also look at the impact of current proposals for aged care reform on retirement village operators.
It asks participants to discuss the regulatory changes needed to integrate aged care and retirement living services.
“There needs to be an opportunity to have a look at establishing an alignment between residential care, community care and retirement living,” said Mr Ansell.
“A very prescriptive jam-jar approach doesn’t encourage flexibility and I think future generations are going to be better equipped to demand choice.
Mr Ansell said any reforms would need to be managed carefully to protect organisations operating under existing systems.
“A lot of our clients have built their models around the current system,” he said.
“While I think there has been universal support for opening up opportunities for consumers to exercise more choice, we need to be mindful that there are a lot of operators who have built services around existing models and they need transition arrangements to ensure that they are not unduly burdened by the changes.”
The closing date for the survey is Saturday, 7 August.
Click here to participate in the survey or to find out more information.
