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Is Aged Care Crisis Looming over Australia?

Announcement posted by Tall Trees Care Communities 04 Dec 2013

Aged care providers from Brisbane and Gold Coast reveal why the current system is not sustainable and what they are doing about it.
Australia, December 4, 2013 - Tall Trees Communities provides aged care on the Gold Coast and Brisbane areas. In a recent blog post, they uncovered an alarming lack of care and knowledge about a looming aged care crisis on the part of the Government. When Prime Minister Abbott was asked about aged care in a debate leading up to the election, he was quoted as saying, “I don't know...I haven't really turned my mind to it.”

According to industry projections, the number of Australians older than 65 years of age will double by 2050 from its current 3 million to a projected 6 million. At the current rate of population growth and aged care industry growth, a shortfall of as many as 66,000 aged care places is possible.

In addition, the need for aged care workers will triple to as many as 1,050,000 from its current 350,000. By 2018, according to projections by Federal Ageing Minister Mark Butler, 100,000 Australians will need home care. In addition, Butler believes that 80,000 more nursing home places will be built by 2018.

The Government, through its “Living Longer, Living Better” program, has pledged $1.2 billion toward improving conditions, career paths and wages in the aged care industry, but most in the aged care industry don't feel that it is nearly enough to ensure that adequate aged care facilities are built or enough aged care workers are adequately trained to meet future demand.

In 2010, a study was commissioned by National Seniors Australia. The study came to the conclusion that the current system does not work well and is not sustainable through it current tax funding. As solutions, it recommended options such as healthy ageing savings accounts, a voucher system, reverse mortgages or long term care insurance. It also mentioned raising taxes.

The Tall Trees Paradigm and How it is More Efficient

Tall Trees is aware of the problems in the industry and uses a system that is more efficient than the standard aged care model. At Tall Trees, residents buy their own homes and are provided access to as much care as they need. They retain the right to own a pet or have visitors whenever they want. Residents have access to care 24 hours a day, social and exercise programs and meals cooked by a chef.

Phil Usher, co-founder of Tall Trees, says residents must be allowed to retain their independence and dignity as they age: “When my partners and I decided to develop our first aged care facility, the first person I talked to was my mum. I asked her what she would want in an aged care facility.”

Usher continued, “The first two things she said were that she didn't want to be told what to do and that she wanted to keep her dog. By the time she was finished, we had the idea for an aged care facility that was different from everyone else's, where our mums could retain their independence and dignity in their final years.”

Usher concluded, “We looked at aged care, saw a terrible system and have done what we can to make it better. We think the entire system needs to be looked at and fixed before it breaks down.”

Tall Trees offers five aged care facilities in the Brisbane and Gold Coast areas. Their motto is, “If it isn't good enough for our mums, it just isn't good enough.” Call (07) 3442 9378 or visit their website: http://talltrees.net.au/.