Opinion

The gnarly problem of dementia in retirement villages

Dementia is no longer hidden in retirement villages. It is in plain sight for residents and Village Managers alike and the question now is: will operators open their eyes, or continue to bury their heads in the sand? The latest edition of SATURDAY laid out the scale of the challenge.

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Lauren Broomham

18 Aug 2025

Opinion

Sink or swim: aged care can’t wait for productivity reform

Hospitals are already flooded with elderly Australians lying in beds when they should be in aged care. The tide is rising. In 2022, then-Aged Care Minister Anika Wells warned the system was not ready for the incoming wave of Baby Boomers. The reality? She may have been five years too late.

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Lauren Broomham

14 Aug 2025

Opinion

Retirement villages overcome loneliness – good news in Loneliness Awareness Week but more to do

Newly published research from the Bolton Clarke Research Institute and Monash University reveals moving to a retirement village halves loneliness within 12 months. As the average stay in retirement living is now nine years, this appears to be great...

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Ian Horswill

12 Aug 2025

Opinion

Aged care beds are running out. What’s the plan?

The numbers don’t lie: we are headed for a shortfall of aged care and hospital beds unlike anything we’ve seen before. As we report in this issue, in Western Australia alone, around 200 hospital beds a day are being occupied by older people who...

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Lauren Broomham

06 Aug 2025

Opinion

It’s time for retirement village operators to provide guidance on Voluntary Assisted Dying

Over the past fortnight, the DCM Institute has been holding Professional Development Days across the country. One of the topics we have been discussing, at the request of a handful of retirement village operators, has been VAD

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James Wiltshire

05 Aug 2025

Opinion

Productivity is sinking – Plan T is the lifeline

Productivity is Canberra’s buzzword of the year and for good reason. Government spending is at its highest level since WWII, care waitlists are ballooning, and the economy is leaning heavily on sectors that aren’t delivering a strong return on...

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Lauren Broomham

31 Jul 2025

Opinion

Why the retirement living sector should embrace RetireAustralia’s Care Hub

RetireAustralia’s The Care Hub will be in every new RetireAustralia village going forward, so why has the retirement living sector been so reluctant to follow? It is a magnet for residents, who hate the thought of entering residential aged care or languishing in a hospital bed awaiting aged care.

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Ian Horswill

29 Jul 2025

Opinion

Across Australia there is a model of aged care where eager customers are lining up at the door to enter

These are retirement villages, not aged care homes, and we call it private aged care. While we have been banging on about this model for several years, we are seeing the early green shoots of a new, significant sector, being driven by the new...

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Chris Baynes

24 Jul 2025

Opinion

Are LDK, Odyssey and Anglicare the only visionaries in the retirement living sector?

Are you an executive in the retirement living sector? If yes, I strongly urge you to join our ‘Ask a visionary anything’ breakfasts in September (Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane). We are a media group and get to speak to a wide range of...

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Chris Baynes

22 Jul 2025

Opinion

A rights-based aged care system: who is the government kidding?

The government claims a rights-based aged care system, but delays, rationed care, and massive waiting lists tell another story. 88,000 are waiting for home care and even Health Minister Mark Butler says almost every aged care facility he visits is full.

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Ian Horswill

17 Jul 2025

Opinion

The law is an ass – and it has cost Lifestyle Communities $1.5 billion and counting

The tribunal in Victoria has ruled the contract requirement of departing residents from land lease operator Lifestyle Communities is void based on a legal/legislative wording, despite residents being well informed when they signed that contract...

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Chris Baynes

15 Jul 2025

Opinion

A return to the dark days: Negative media headlines are back – can the sector pressure the Government for real change?

In 2018, just before the ABC’s Who Cares? program aired and the Morrison Government announced the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, the headlines around home care and aged care turned bleak. Reading the papers this week, it’s...

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Lauren Broomham

10 Jul 2025

Opinion

Moving deck chairs on the Titanic: Govt fails to shift the needle on aged care

The Albanese Government promised to fix aged care. But if this is “fixing it,” we’re in trouble. Let’s start with Example 1: Blair Comley’s 2025 Departmental Briefing to Health Minister Mark Butler – obtained via FOI – doesn’t list...

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Lauren Broomham

03 Jul 2025