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Age Services Industry Forum September 2019 Sharyn McIlwain State Manager – VIC/TAS
About LASA • Leading Age Services Australia (LASA) is the national association for all providers of age services across residential care, home care and retirement living/seniors housing. • Our purpose is to enable high performing, respected and sustainable age services that support older Australians to age well by providing care, support and accommodation with quality, safety and compassion - always. • We are dedicated to meeting the needs of our Members by providing: a strong and influential voice, leading with authority on issues of importance; access to valuable and value-adding information, advice, services and support. Residential care Home care Retirement living & seniors housing
Sector Update 4
LASA out and about 5
Aged Care Employee Day 7/8 • 11 News articles in trade and mainstream press • 40+ LASA social media posts sharing photos from around Australia. • LASA staff participated in Member events in Victoria, Qld SA and WA – Thanks to all who got out and about.
NextGen (Melbourne 9/8)
innovAGEING LASA was recently recognised for its leadership in promoting innovation in age services through the award-winning innov AGEING initiative. Merlin Kong noted that “reframing the age services innovation agenda to be about organisations changing the logic of their business rather than talking about technology has fostered a more inclusive and constructive innovation environment for our industry”.
Reform progress?? 9
Aged Care Reform in Australia … Australia’s ageing population poses a significant challenge to the Australian aged care system as it currently operates. Although change has been observed, and a focus on the consumer has emerged, there remains a need for reform . Source: Report on the Inquiry into the Quality of Care in Residential Aged Care Facilities in Australia House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport (October 2018)
Background - A Journey of Reforms 2011 – Productivity Commission Report 2012 - Living Longer Living Better Reform ( LLLB) 2012/13 – Supporting Framework to LLLB Established & My Aged Care Website introduced 2014 – New Accommodation Payment Structure 2017 – Increasing Choice in Home Care 2018 - Unannounced Accreditation 2019 – Aged Care Quality & Safety Commission 2019 - New Single Aged Care Quality Framework 2020 and Beyond?
2002 … “Bluntly, it is very difficult for many older Australians who need care to get access to the advice, support and care services they need. Our aged care system is fragmented, with no easy points of access and in many regions, too few resources to meet needs” “Service quality, particularly in residential care, continues to be the subject of consumer concern due to some spectacular failures in service quality” “The adequacy of funding, with the community expressing concern about the nature, quality and amount of care available in some parts of the aged care sector, and providers arguing that subsidies and client contributions do not cover costs”
Aged Care Reform in Australia Living Longer Living Better Reform Package (2012) • 10 year reform plan that: “ will build a responsive, integrated, consumer-centred and sustainable aged care system, designed to meet the challenges of population ageing and ensure ongoing innovation and improvement ” • Key Principles 1. Ageing in Place 2. Consumer Choice 3. Market Based Competition 4. Consumer Contributions
Funding 14
Financial Pressures LASA has recently surveyed Members and found 4 out of 5 aged care providers believe current financial pressures constrain their ability to deliver the care their clients and residents need and expect. Other key findings show that if conditions do not improve: 15 per cent said it was likely or very likely that they would have to withdraw services 41 per cent said it was likely or very likely that they would have to reduce direct care staff. 52 per said it was likely or very likely that they would have to reduce non-care direct service staff. Is not unreasonable to expect that Australia’s aged care system is adequately funded to be sustainable and to meet the needs of older Australians. However, the reality is that funding of aged care has not kept pace with rising operating costs and the growing needs of older Australians.
Royal Commission Update 16
Support to Members • Information – LASA Media Watch / regular email updates / public hearings daily summary email • Advice – dedicated RC Response Coordinator and advice service for Members • Materials – pro-forma letter to residents / pro-forma letter to staff / newsletter article skeleton / powerpoint skeleton • Services - directory of related services with negotiated discounts for LASA Members
Directions Hearing (Jan 2019) • ‘ rising torrent of concern that the aged care system is faltering in certain areas of safety and quality and may not be fit for purpose ’ • ‘ we need to understand both what is wrong with it and what works well in order to understand the changes that need to be made in the aged care system ’ • ‘important to recognize many positive examples of high quality care’ • RC is a once in a lifetime opportunity to come together as a nation to consider how we can create a better system of care for elderly Australians ‘The hallmark of a civilized society is how it treats its most vulnerable’ ‘Frail and elderly members of our community deserve to and should be looked after in the best possible way’ ‘ We intend to do our best to see that it happens’
RC Reflections • Choice of Commissioners • All parts of the system being equally scrutinized • Recurring themes o System complexity o Variable quality o Information – choice / usefulness / transparency o Policy and regulation (design and application) o Lack of time / lack of staff o Workforce attract/retain/develop o Dementia care practices o Aged / primary / acute care practices o True costs of care and funding
Responding to the RC ORGANISATION OUTCOME = ‘be resilient and ready’ Respond – to RC requests for information 1. Reflect – critically review your responses (outcomes & experiences / 2. culture / governance / systems & processes / operating context and impacts on performance / etc) Deliver – continue operations / continuous improvement 3. Future Ready – org.strategy / bus.infrastructure / workforce planning 4. & core competencies / models of care / leadership & change management / culture & governance / transparency / stakeholder engagement / etc) COMMUNICATE / COMMUNICATE / COMMUNICATE
Aged Care: a ‘wicked problem’ Wicked problems: • are difficult to clearly define • are often not stable • are socially complex • usually have no clear solution • have many interdependencies and are often multi- causal. • hardly ever sit conveniently within the responsibility of any one organisation • Attempts to address wicked problems often lead to unforeseen consequences. • can be characterised by chronic policy failure • involve changing behaviour
Responding to a ‘wicked problem’ Solutions require: • holistic, not partial or linear thinking • innovative and flexible approaches • the ability to work across boundaries (disciplines, organisations, governments, etc) • effectively engage stakeholders and citizens in understanding the problem and in identifying possible solutions • skills to work collaboratively • understanding behavioural change • tolerating uncertainty • a comprehensive focus and/or strategy
RC Insights for Industry (II) • Trigg (28 June): thinking big and not tinkering – you know, not necessarily to throw the baby out with the bathwater. • Trigg (28 June): But I think, for me, the biggest thing I would want the Commission to remember is the answers have been in this room. You know, there are people in this room who know what you need to do. There are people in this room who have the answers, who’ve been doing this stuff for 10, 20 years, and I suppose my biggest wish is that those people become the most important people in the system, and they’re the people who will guide your work
Summary… • Aged care issues (access, quality, funding, reforms) are not new • Industry must act to be part of the solution and not react as a part of the problem • Solutions must be holistic, flexible, adaptive and long-term • We need to ‘ think big and not tinker ’
Be Alert, Not Alarmed… Staff should be/feel: • aware • safe • supported • empowered • confident
The Interim Report – due end October Melbourne 14 th November 19
Sector Perfomance 27
Residential Care Jan-Mar 19
Home Care Jan – Mar 19
Retirement Living
VIC Retirement Living Paul Murphy:: (SRG) Stakeholder Reference Group 2 nd meeting with CAV – Consumer Affairs Victoria – 29/8/19 • • Strong focus on setting questions fro stakeholder feedback • Issues paper to be developed by late Oct 2019 • Next meeting 7 November 2019
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