Invisible aged care
by the Columnist Aged Care Crisis.Com
[Tuesday, 20 November 2007]
The election is almost upon us and it would hard to know that there was such a thing as aged care. Frail Australians have barely had a look in – in spite of the billions of dollars being thrown about. Residents of nursing homes have missed out yet again.
The best on offer is $458 million in funding and loans to help create an estimated 4,500 extra permanent and transitional care beds (ALP). And $1.6 billion for 7,200 more community care places and 2,000 more aged care beds (Coalition).
So some much-needed extra funding has been promised by both sides of politics. But aged care needs much more than this. The basic problem of how best to provide for people at the end of life with at least some respect and dignity remains unresolved.
While there has been endless hours of talk about the economy and the ‘working family’ little, if any, debate about aged care has occurred.
Few solutions to critical funding, staffing and care issues have been proffered. How are more skilled staff to be attracted to work in aged-care - work that is generally undervalued and underpaid? How can greater accountability, transparency and confidence in this stressed system be created? Who should pay for aged care- families, governments, not-for-profit agencies or should we just leave it all to the market?
The issues are huge, most families are confronted with them at some stage and yet there is little community debate. Who wants to think about becoming old, frail and dependent? No-one really!
What sort of aged care do we want in Australia? Is the current move to huge facilities on the outskirts of cities what people really want? I thought we were against putting people into institutions in this country! But perhaps we don’t want slummy little cottage- industry places either. But where is the debate? Where are the alternatives? Who is to decide? One might have thought that election time might be just the very time to put thoughtful, innovative policies before the people and to talk about these things.
Instead we are confronted with a government and a Minister for Aged Care who exhibits little interest in the issue at all and an opposition which can only talk about ‘working families’.
Pity the frail, the old and the dying in this country.
Source: Aged Care Crisis.Com
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We are missing out again! It is obvious that we have a lot more to do, in order to make politicians take notice. Is it difficult for them to understand that Aged Care is a major issue? Politicians are very good at calling for reports and studies. Various reports and researches from around the globe have "echoed" the same thing. A lot more has to be done to ensure that the vulnerable elderly are protected; and, be given a safe, peaceful and dignified place for them to see out the last few years of their lives.
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