Nurses unions and media commentators are talking up the corporatisation of residential aged care, now backed by a new Productivity Commission report on government services.
Since 2009, private/for-profit providers have grown from 34% of all places to 41%. They increased 1.6% in 2016-17 alone.
The question is, this is a bad thing? What it tells us is the private sector is obtaining and investing capital to build new beds while the not-for-profit sector is not. It may also tell us that the not-for-profit sector is closing beds, not replacing them.
Is it a matter of the not-for-profit boards not being prepared to invest their balance sheet?