Joseph Ibrahim, the Head of the Health Law and Ageing Research Unit at the University’s Department of Forensic Medicine, has predicted the Commission will take much longer than the 12 months allotted.
“A more realistic estimate is the inquiry will take up to three years followed by a fourth year for the incumbent government to consider the recommendations, a fifth year for reform to be debated in parliament and legislated, then five years for any substantive policy and practice reforms to be put in place,” he writes in The Conversation.
“This takes us to 2030, by which time at least four cohorts of residents will have entered a nursing home and died.”
Professor Ibrahim has the figures to back up his argument. The latest data shows over 27% of aged care residents die every year.
Instead the Professor says the first generations to benefit from reforms will be healthy people now in their 50s and 60s – a valid point.
