Stop the hospital blame game – it’s time for aged care to put Plan T on the table
Health and aged care are not separate crises. They’re one system problem. Older people’s needs are joined up – it’s our funding and governance that are carved into silos.
Every week, we get the same theatre: Premiers and the PM trading blows over hospital funding, ramping and who “broke” the system first.
States say the Feds won’t fund aged care. The Commonwealth says States can’t control hospital costs.
It might make good politics, but it does nothing for the older person stuck on a trolley in ED – or the family just trying to keep them out of residential care for as long as possible.
Health and aged care are not separate crises. They’re one system problem. Older people’s needs are joined up – it’s our funding and governance that are carved into silos.
As we report in this issue, the Business Council of Australia’s new blueprint wants prevention lifted from 3% to 5% of health spend by 2030 to handle the 60,000 Australians now turning 80 each year.
At the same time, the Grattan Institute’s latest report shows billions being wasted inside hospitals because we don’t pay for care in smarter, more productive ways.
Yet the political fight is still about who pays what share of the hospital bill – not why so many older people are ending up there in the first place.
This week’s edition of SATURDAY is dedicated to Transformation – and what operators are doing to reshape services around older people, not funding lines.
St Vincent’s CEO Lincoln Hopper talks about blending health, aged care and digital models to keep people well at home and out of hospital for longer.
This is where the sector has to move first.
Plan T was never meant to be a slogan; it’s a bargain. Providers need to come forward with practical transformation proposals and hard, measurable targets. In return, Governments must back those commitments with the policy settings and funding that make them possible.
No more vague asks. No more waiting for Canberra or the capitals to “fix” it.
The Plan T for aged care – and health – starts when operators stop joining the blame game – and start putting real solutions on the table.
To hear more from Lincoln and other CEOs and experts on their vision for aged care, see this week’s SATURDAY Transformation issue. To find out more and subscribe, click here – our Black Friday offer is live.
