Advocacy body Alzheimer’s Australia is concerned about the federal government’s planned aged-care overhaul.
The Abbott government faces questions over its commitment to fighting the dementia epidemic after the abolition of a key funding package, delays on a major plank of aged care reform and lack of action on nursing home residents being controlled with anti-psychotic drugs that rarely work and can be fatal.
Alzheimer’s Australia, the peak advocacy body for sufferers of the condition and their carers, has raised concerns over implementation of a major overhaul of the aged care system, announced by the Gillard government two years ago. Parts of the reform package that will affect how people pay for in-home and nursing home care come into effect on July 1, with a greater emphasis on user-pays.
The CEO of Alzheimer’s Australia, Glenn Rees, said the government’s abolition on Thursday of the dementia and severe behaviours supplement – funds targeted at specialised care for the most severely affected patients – raised questions about the commitment to improving quality of care. Mr Rees said the promise of better care had been a trade-off regarding the shift to a “user pays” focus, but quality improvements were now under a cloud.
“It reinforces … that the reforms that are coming in are delivering on user charges but not on quality of care. One would have to say the scorecard is not promising because some of the things that were promised in terms of quality are not going to be delivered on July 1,” he said.