StewartBrown research now states the average age of residents in retirement villages is 80 and the average age of departure is now 86; villages are firmly part of the care system – which is broken. Village operators need to support Plan T, the transformation of the aged care system.
The ‘system’ is bogged down from years of rules and regulations piling on top of each other to the point where it is now grossly inefficient and failing to deliver optimum care equally across the country.
As ex-IRT CEO, Patrick Reid told SATURDAY: “Something is broken when 40-50% of a skilled health professional’s time is devoted to administrative tasks.”
Duncan McKimm, CEO at retirement living and residential aged care operator Clarence Village in regional Grafton (NSW), wrote to us concerning the one program that applies to all operators with residents paying for accommodation via a percentage on RADs.
“If aged care moves to a rental-only model (% of RADs), what will prevent capital from moving out of regional areas into metropolitan areas where capital appreciation is greater?” he asked.
The system is the same across the country, but regional areas can’t charge the high RADs equal to their metro cousins. No capital, no new beds.
For retirement village operators, this means residents will not be able to transition out of the village, remaining as a highly dependent resident under the responsibility ultimately of the village operator.
Our figures at DCM (and others) show that by 2028, 128,000 people are virtually assured to die at home after three to four years of living in increasingly life-threatening frailty and fear.
Each year, the funnel will fill with more, and the chilling fact is that those people will know there is no substantial help available.
Plan T: Transformation required
But the aged care system is a behemoth with a turnover of $40-plus billion per year. It can’t be significantly changed overnight, if at all.
The Government also does not have the cash to throw at change, and nobody could argue that would be a good strategy.
So, how do we support 40% plus more customers with less, and less red tape?
The only solution is to have an infomed working group outside the system tasked to identify the operational tangles, and put forward sensible fixes.
Coalition of the willing
We envisage a Coaltion of the Willing of say 20 operators that each release one competent executive for one month to forensically investigate one oppportunity each, and then build a book of recommendations to review with the Department and Government in partnership.
Once done, a second group of 20 steps up.
What is an exmple of what can be achieved?
The Shared Care initiative where retirement village residents share portions of their Home Care Packages to fund services, like a village nurse, for the benefit of all residents, has been given the green light by the Department to stage a three-year trial.
The transformational approach would say that the findings will be clear within 12 months and if positive, it can be rolled out within 18 months across the sector, not three-plus years.
Pace of change
There is a second factor in why transformaton is required: the pace of change.
An open and entrepreneurial mind is required to be creative and proactive.
In this week’s issue of SATURDAY, we feature Amplar Health, which is delivering hospital transition care for SA Health by taking 24 rooms in the Adelaide Pullman Hotel. CEO Robert Read tells Amplar Health’s Hospital in the Home model has already supported over 20,000 patients. It has delivered an extraordinary NPS score of 90.
Think big
Proactive wellness is talked about, but little is done. It is a big opportunity.
Hans Erik Henriksen told us at the LEADERS SUMMIT that Denmark took a long, hard look at its ageing system in 1987. The country introduced mandatory ageing assessment by the local health authority for every Dane when they hit 75 years of age so proactive advice could be given.
Today, every Dane from age 82 is required to have a monitored wellness program in operation to forestall frailty and demands on service. Why can’t we do the same?
Willingness of Government to partner
Today is a unique opportunity to engage with the Federal Government. Health and Ageing Minister Butler has a 14-year deep understanding of the aged care portfolio and the rapidly increasing load the ageing Baby Boomer is building.
For the first time in recent history, aged care has a dedicated Minister with an expanded brief to include ‘ageing’.
Will the Government be willing to join in seeking transformative initiatives. Logic says yes.
Plan T – Transformation
The logical conclusion is that the time is now to be proactive as a sector; invoke Plan T.
What is required is a coalition of the willing, made up of the first 20 operators.
Should peak bodies be involved? Of course, but not in the actual work, because this should be done by executives on the ground, and the peaks have a significant workload supporting members in the current system
We at DCM are not operators. We can be a vehicle to promote the sector and to the broader community (we talk to 125,000 buyers of ageing services every month).
We are aware of many leaders who recognise the challenge and the opportunity. It is time to stand up and act.
As Mahatma Gandhi said: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
