Shared Care test for villages is finally here. Good, but is it redundant for customers?

In 2023, the Retirement Living Council pitched Shared Care to the Federal Government as an idea. A trial is now real, but the market is moving past it. 

In simple terms, the RLC asked if a village operator could pool some of the home care funds being provided to village residents and use those funds to pay for village wide services, like a Registered Nurse. A great idea and now the Government is asking for 10 applicants to trial it, with a three year timeframe. 

The final decision on whether it works could be in 2029. 

Things have moved on. 

Back in 2023, the RLC said when residents need more than home care, they can move to an aged care home. Now all the homes are full. 

And there are 105,000 people waiting to be assessed for a Package and 100,000 who have been assessed are waiting to get a Package. 

The great thing about retirement villages is that they are not part of the care system and so can develop products and services that are outside Government’s slow decision making processes and heavy regulations. 

The village customer will vote with their cash on what they need, and increasingly ‘private aged care’ is what they are asking for. 

Our home care readers are telling us that their private client base is growing fast as people realise they simply need help, no matter what the Government subsidy is. 

The challenge for village operators is do they become a home care (now called Support at Home) provider themselves or partner with one?

Tony Randello, CEO of Aveo and President of the RLC, says he feels operators have an unwritten responsibility to ensure their village residents have access to care in the village. Aveo has established this service. He states he doesn’t expect it to be a big profit centre, but an essential customer service. 

Other providers told us last week that the average stay in a village is steadily growing out past nine years to 10 and 11 years, with residents needing in-home care at low and higher levels. 

Shared Care is a nice concept but residents will increasingly want it in-village care now, and happy customers are great, but unhappy customers are….. 

We see this as an evolving scenario and an opportunity for operators – if they provide care services now. Customers will pay.