High care not viable: surveyors

Modern, single-room high care facilities are not viable under current conditions, according to three of the firms which regularly produce aged care benchmarking reports.

Stewart Brown Business Solutions, James Underwood & Associates and Grant Thornton have issued a joint statement to the Senate’s aged care inquiry.

The three organisations said they wished to clarify their position after information from their respective reports had been used to argue different points.

“Our research confirms that modern, single-room high care services make very poor or negative returns on average,” the statement said.

“These returns are far below the returns achieved in older, shared-room high care services.

“In our opinion, modern, single-room high care services – other than those with extra services approvals – are not viable under current funding and regulatory arrangements.”

The statement was welcomed by industry body, Aged Care Association Australia (ACAA).

“We are pleased that the surveyors have made this statement because it does clarify their knowledge and information that they have gleaned from their survey activities,” said ACAA CEO, Rod Young.

“Under these circumstances I don’t think anyone could possibly have the capacity to make an alternative point of view.

“There is no other information of which I am aware that could create a doubt about what the surveyors have said.”

A spokesperson for the Minister for Ageing said the government was providing more than $41 billion to the sector over the next four years.

 “[The] Australian Government will continue to listen to and work with the industry and consumers to improve aged care services in Australia,” the spokesperson said.

“We will continue to consider proposals and ideas presented to government on behalf of providers and consumers.”