Aged and Community Services Far North Coast chairman Pip Carter.
By ANDY PARKS
andy.parks@northernstar.com.au
April 17, 2008
AGED-CARE providers across the Northern Rivers have given cautious approval to a Federal Government plan to provide interest-free loans to increase the number of beds in 'high need' areas.
Pip Carter, chairman of Aged and Community Services Far North Coast, said yesterday the move was 'a great initiative' and 'welcomed by the industry'.
The announcement by the Federal Minister for Ageing and Richmond MP, Justine Elliott, allocates $300 million in loans to aged-care facilities that meet the eligibility criteria.
However, Mr Carter said that 40 per cent of aged-care facilities were currently running at a loss and that a report by Price Waterhouse estimated $5.6 billion would be required in capital funding over the next 20 years as Australia's population aged.
"So on that level it's a drop in the ocean," he said.
A spokesperson for Catholic Healthcare said the new loan scheme was 'a welcome recognition of the inadequacy of current funding for residential aged care'.
"It is only a partial short-term response applying only to selected parts of Australia. The scheme falls short of what is required to ensure the provision of quality aged care in the long term," the spokesperson said.
The statement comes on top of an announcement earlier this week of an additional 2091 aged-care beds worth $74.8 million a year in recurrent funding for New South Wales.
Julia Bellamy, regional director of United Care Ageing for the North Coast, said the region had been identified as an area of high need, in particular Tweed Heads, Ballina and Maclean.
"This is extremely positive for us and it will increase residential care options in those areas," she said.
Ms Bellamy said the Government needed to focus more on the mix of services for the elderly, particularly those who wanted to stay in their own homes.
SOURCE: northernStar
--------------------------------------------------
More Recent Posts from Spotlight on Elder Abuse
No comments:
Post a Comment