Awareness lacking on reforms
Providers are concerned not enough people in the broader community know about the upcoming reforms, or what it means for them, but still hope the new Aged Care Act will allow them to leave a positive legacy across the care sector.
There needs to be a targeted campaign reminding Australians about the aged care reforms, Council of the Ageing Victoria Ben Rogers told the Ageing Australian Victorian state conference audience on Tuesday afternoon, as while he estimates 50 per cent of people know there’s a new Aged Care Act, 50 per cent don’t, or they don’t know what it means for them.
Moderated by Ageing Australia chief executive officer Tom Symondson, Mr Rogers was joined on the How Providers are Navigating the Aged Care Act Transition panel by StewartBrown partner Stuart Hutcheon, Russell Kennedy principal Victor Harcourt, and provider chief executive officers Rebecca Power from Spectrum and Anne McCormack of mecwacare. The session took place less than 24 hours before the surprise announcement that the commencement date of the Aged Care Act will be delayed until 1 November.
“Honestly, we should be suffocating from the amount of ads that should be on our telly, that should be on our radio… that should be in specialist local newspapers, particularly towards the multicultural and linguistically diverse community – especially in Melbourne,” Mr Rogers said.
“I can already think of a couple of newspapers that I think should be suffering under the weight of the advertising to say something is coming and explaining in a bit more detail what to expect on the 1st of July [at] the very least, but also where to go and get more information.”
Ms Power agreed but emphasised a public campaign would require culturally-tailored nuance.
Mr Rogers also encouraged providers to ensure their clients feel heard during this transition period, and to avoid reliance on digital communication.
“They want to feel like they can ask you a question and they can get an answer that is specific to them” he said.
“It’s great to have a public campaign, but also you need to make sure that there is an accessible service that can explain and talk people through this – and it can’t be online.
“Online helps, it does, but we do know a digital divide exists.”
Overall, the panel echoed comments made by Mr Symondson on sector preparedness, that they are as ready as they can be given the information available.
“It’s a bit like… going to an AFL match, and you’re [a] player on the team, and you’ve done all the work, and you know the rules, and the MCG is full of people that are really excited about the game starting, but the goalposts are missing… that’s kind of what it feels like at the moment,” Ms Power said.
No room for wage mistakes
During this period of reform and changing rules, Mr Hutcheon reminded providers of the importance of paying their staff correctly – acknowledging the wage award is complex but emphasising the need to retain staff.
“We want to attract people and we want to keep people in this sector, so let’s make sure we’re paying them correctly,” he said.
“The underpayment of wages across the care sector is into the hundreds of millions of dollars,” he added, “the payroll people do make mistakes, we all make mistakes and we’re seeing underpayments, so check and check again and make sure we’re paying people the best we can and that we’re not making any mistakes with that.”
Also speaking from a non-provider perspective, Mr Harcourt said it is important to ensure that providers have got their gap analysis in place, ticking the boxes of what has been done to actually prepare for the changes, to follow up those actions and make sure they’re implemented.
Looking for the hopeful side of the reforms, Ms Powers added that providers need to keep an “eye on the prize.”
“Our board often talk about what legacy are we leaving for the next people. This is a watershed moment for us in terms of aged care, the principles in the Act are fantastic. This transition is rocky to say the least but we are responsible for leaving a positive legacy that we hope to be getting the care that we want to be providing into the future,” she said.
“So I’d really like to be here in 5 or 10 years time and just see that we actually have made that change and I think we can all contribute to that in the way that we deal with change.”
Ms McCormack wrapped up the panel, saying the transition is two halves of the same coin.
“The first thing is [to] become very clear where value sits in your organisation. It might not be the things you think it is going forward,” she said.
“Be really clear where goodness sits, and don’t lose that as we journey through the next couple of years.”
The other side of that coin, Ms McCormack said, is get familiar with the cost to serve and clear on the commercial models.
“The demand is not going away. The need is not going away. So become very clear on what those drivers are, the ones you can influence, and the ones you can’t, because that will actually dictate where you go on to add value and have impact over the next few years,” she said.
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