Caring conversations mark aged care future

Above: Minister, Mark Butler at the Sydney ‘conversation’ on Monday

By Keryn Curtis

The Gillard government’s ‘national conversation on healthy and positive ageing’ has begun in earnest with Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler hosting four community meetings with local seniors in New South Wales in the last two days, following the first such meeting in Adelaide last week.

Around 200 people packed an auditorium in Sydney’s CBD on Monday to hear the Minister speak about the Productivity Commission’s recently released report, Caring for Older Australians, and have the opportunity to ask questions and raise issues of concern to them.

In an interview prior to the meeting, Minister Butler said the first ‘conversation’ in Adelaide last week had been very positive.

“It’s basically an opportunity to talk about the issues and for people to ask questions.  I give a brief introduction and then there’s about an hour and a half for questions,” said Mr Butler.

“The main questions were around quality of services, people being able to stay in their homes and get access to services; links to the wider healthcare system; access to information about services.”

Mr Butler said the discussions around reforms were taking place in a different political climate now to previous attempts at reform and there was recognition right across the broad aged care sector that a significant amount of time and effort had been invested in the analysis and recommendations.

“There is a high degree of interest in the reforms and a recognition that it is an important issue.  I think the Prime Minister making the announcement and giving it her imprimatur has helped.

“There does need to be a level of maturity in the debate because it is such an important issue.  People right across the sector broadly, including the consumer groups, have invested a lot of time and effort in this – and of course the Productivity Commission itself – and it needs to be given proper consideration,” he said.

Mr Butler said the mainstream media was well informed too and has responded with a high degree of interest. “It’s generally been regarded as an important area of reform […] I’ve not had one question on co-contributions and none in radio interviews,” he said.

No no-go zones
At this stage, the Minister is not able to commit to any time-frame for the government’s formal response to the PC’s proposed reform recommendations, though he is clear about the government’s understanding and intent.

“In the PM’s language, we are not ruling anything in and we’re not ruling anything out.  There aren’t any ‘no-go zones’. We’ll be considering all the recommendations.

“We also understand that there needs to be a package of reforms and that cherry-picking elements from the package is not an option.

“Equally, we know that this involves substantial amounts of change.  Implementing a co-contribution is a substantial amount of work; ironing out the creases for nursing homes is never going to be easy.

“But consumers want to have a deep discussion. It’s important to get the perspective of those who use the system because they will have a different perspective from the providers.  They want to consider all the possible ramifications of a new system,” he said.

Details
The exact number of  ‘conversation’ events to be hosted is yet to be finalised but all State and Territory capitals and major regional centres will be included. To date they have taken place in Adelaide last week with Sydney, Port Macquarie, Newcastle and Gosford in the last three days. The Ballina conversation will take place this morning. The conversations are being supported by COTA. 

The Minister is keeping a blog about these events with information and photos about each event. Details of dates and locations for other conversationswill be published as they are confirmed  http://agedcareconversations.govspace.gov.au/

You can also follow the Minister on twitter @Mark_Butler_MP