With just 36 business days until 1 July, aged care providers are holding their breath. The looming rollout of the new Aged Care Act and the Support at Home program has the sector on edge – and the first item on the re-elected Government’s aged care agenda must be an honest reckoning: operators cannot meet the current timeline.
Just yesterday, I spoke with a CEO who voiced deep concern about the growing anxiety across their organisation – from frontline staff to senior management and board members – driven by the sheer lack of clarity surrounding the reforms.
With the final regulations still unpublished, providers are being asked to comply with rules they haven’t even seen.
“Look at how many people are leaving,” they told me. “Look at the number of senior executives walking away from RAAF organisations. Look at the middle management, the nurses – and they’re not being replaced.
“There are thousands of bright, intelligent, solutions-focused people across aged care and retirement living. But they’re being stifled. It’s not acceptable.”
You have to ask: in what other industry would providers be left in limbo just weeks out from a major legislative overhaul?
The old defence – that aged care is Government-funded and therefore must simply fall in line – doesn’t hold water.
The Government outsources care to the sector precisely because it doesn’t want to provide it directly. That reality comes with responsibility. Aged care providers are still businesses. And no business can function without financial sustainability and a clear path forward.
At yesterday’s Department of Health and Aged Care Tech Talk, officials outlined progress on the digital transformation underpinning Support at Home. When asked whether providers could expect a grace period after 1 July – given the lack of information and readiness – the answer was noncommittal.
The Department said the issue is being conveyed to Government but confirmed that any decision on a grace period would require ministerial sign-off. In other words, wait and see.
To be fair, the Albanese Government has earned praise for progress made under the Aged Care Taskforce. But good intentions don’t outweigh operational chaos. The system is still buckling under the weight of red tape and relentless complexity.
With the election now behind us, the Government must act. It’s time to give the sector a paddle – or risk watching it sink.
