“We are not holding up our end of the bargain” on aged care
Dr Monique Ryan calls for urgent aged care reform fixes
- Three reforms: Dr Monique Ryan has proposed urgent fixes for aged care reform delivery
- Price cap deadline: Ryan asked the Government to set a date for Support at Home price caps
- Human oversight: Ryan wants manual review introduced for the Integrated Assessment Tool
- Funding concerns: Ryan said Support at Home packages must keep pace with care costs
In Parliament on Tuesday, Dr Monique Ryan recommended the Government implement three “immediate fixes” for aged care.
Dr Ryan, who is Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability, said the older Australians waiting for aged care “paid taxes for decades on the understanding that when they need care, it would be there for them. We are not holding up our end of the bargain.”
Dr Ryan, who was formerly Director of Neurology at Melbourne’s Royal Childrens’s Hospital, proposed three changes the Government could implement to remedy the problems in aged care.
First, she said the Government must set a date for the introduction of price caps.
Second, she said Support at Home packages must be indexed to “keep pace with the real cost of care”.
And thirdly, Dr Ryan said human oversight must be introduced for the Integrated Assessment Tool (IAT).
In February, Dr Ryan asked the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors Sam Rae if the “once-in-a-generation reforms are just ‘robo aged care?’” – a reference to the Robodebt scandal, in which the Government automated debt assessment and recovery for welfare recipients.
Next Tuesday, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing, including Ageing and Aged Care, will appear before Senate Estimates. It is expected new data about how the aged care reforms are performing will be released.
You can read the program here.
