Aged Care
The Australian Democrats believe that older Australians make an immense
contribution to the well being of our society and our economy. We support community and home
based aged care services that enable older Victorians to stay with confidence and comfort in
their homes as long as they are able.
The Democrats are committed to:
- Developing national benchmarks for all aged care
- Increasing HACC funding
- Recognising the considerable contribution of carers
- Increasing respite services funding
- Offering additional training
Introduction
A total of 883,303 people, or 15% of Victoria's population is over 60 and this is expected
to rise to 25% by 2021. Rural and regional areas have a higher proportion of over 60's (20%)
compared to metropolitan areas (14%).
According to national benchmarks, Victoria is 5,500 beds short on residential care provision,
which is far more than in other States (Western Australia, for example, is only about 300 beds
short). This simply increases the demand for home-based care, for which there are no benchmarks.
With no objective measure for how much home-based provision is really needed, waiting lists
just continue to get longer each year. Last year over 120,000 people used Home & Community Care
services in Victoria; over 70% of these were older people.
In Victoria, the Democrats will:
- Require the Commonwealth government to make good the inequitable shortfall in residential
care beds in Victoria.
In community and home-based aged care
The Australian Democrats would:
- Advocate for the development of national benchmarks for community and home based aged care services.
- Actively work for a substantial increase in funding for the Home and Community Care (HACC) Program with annual indexation to maintain real funding levels.
- Work with state and local governments to provide greater co-ordination between services to enable equitable access and greater mobility between services.
- Promote the recognition, support, and funding of carers as the "silent workforce" caring for those in need.
- Plan for specialised services for elderly people with chronic illness living at home.
- Plan for culturally and linguistically appropriate care for the 21% of older Victorians aged 65+ who were born overseas.
- Better provide for the specific cultural needs of older indigenous people.
- Support increased funding for respite services.
- Recognise through additional funding and specialist services, older Victorians affected by mental illness, dementia and other disorders.
- Provide accessible day support services for older people with lifelong disabilities.
The Democrats would address as a matter of urgency the shortage of home care and personal care workers by:
- Elevating the status of home carers and personal carers.
- Providing training in home and community based care for people wishing to return to the workforce.
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