Bush Summit 2022: The aged care crisis devastating the bush

Seniors are forced to leave their hometowns of decades to move into nursing homes or hospital beds hours from all they know as the regional aged care system buckles.

Elderly residents in the bush are being forced out of the towns they’ve called home for their entire lives and into nursing homes hours away or into hospital beds, as the regional aged care system buckles under a lack of investment and skyrocketing demand.

The latest statistics from NSW Health show that in regional NSW hospitals 511 patients are waiting for either aged care or NDIS accommodation, while in the last year the number of elderly people on the waiting list for aged care places has tripled.

The pressure on remote communities is highlighted by the tiny town of Bombala in the state’s south, where aged care provider Southern Cross pulled the pin on the community’s only aged care facility earlier this year.

The decision forced 20 residents to find new homes in neighbouring towns, or at ill-fitted aged care wards at multipurpose services.

Dina and Arthur Dracopoulos were among those hit hard by the closure, with Arthur’s mother Helen, 94, forced to move from her hometown of nearly 60 years to an aged care home more than an hour away at Pambula.

Arthur and Dina Dracopoulos, with their son Kosta and Arthur’s mother Helen, are among the families who have had to face their matriarch moving away after the closure of Bombala’s only aged care home. Picture: David Rogers

Instead of seeing the family matriarch daily, a visit to Pambula is only possible – at best – one day a week.

Daughter-in-law Dina said the swift closure of the facility had a “devastating” impact on families in Bombala, as well as the aged care residents who she said had been torn from the community they’d called their home most of their lives.

Dina speaks to her mum-in-law at her care facility in Pambula. Picture: David Rogers

“I can’t complain about the care, but she’s dying of loneliness,” Dina said.

“It’s just devastating. They’ve literally been torn from their homes.”

“Every time I go and see her, she asks me “have you come to take me back to Bombala?”’

“As far as I’m concerned, we’ve failed our elderly.”

Fellow Bombala resident Catriona Garnock’s said the closure of the home meant residents “just got shunted in all different directions”.

Her mother-in-law Shirley was another who had to relocate to Pambula – with the mass loss of the community’s long-term residents a gut-punch for the close-knit town.

“When you’re close to someone in care, you can pop in for 10 minutes and help out … but when they’re more than an hour away, it’s a daylong expedition,” she said.

“It’s absolutely dreadful … People want to stay with their communities, with their families, with their friends.

“We can’t let aged care just leave our towns and our communities like this. There’s so many oldies needing care.”

Shirley Garnock, 94, with granddaughters Rosie and Emily, was another long term Bombala resident forced to move more than an hour from her hometown. Picture: Supplied

Other residents moved into the aged care wards of Multi-Purpose Services (MPS) at Bombala or surrounding towns – but the tiny satellite hospitals which have beds reserved for elderly patients are far from the specialist care offered at an aged care home.

Jo Minnis’ father Bruce found a bed at the MPS at Delegate, about half an hour away from Bombala – but despite being pleased with the standard of care, his new home was still “just a hospital room”.

“They’re looking after him wonderfully, I can’t fault the care, but it really is a hospital room,” she said.

“(Bombala) was wonderful, but at Delegate it’s just a hospital room.

“My Dad has dementia and that’s deteriorated quite remarkably since he’s been at Delegate.

“He says to me, ‘I never thought I’d be 94 and not have a home’”.

A year before Bombala’s closure, Southern Cross also withdrew from Harden in the state’s west – with local councillor Tony Flanery saying the local community was similarly devastated as residents had to find accommodation in Canberra or Yass.

“For those who can drive and have a car, the cost of getting there has doubled with petrol prices. It’s had an absolutely devastating impact on the families,” he said.

“I’ve lived in rural Australia all my life – we don’t have the services that urban cities have – but we have an important community dependent on good health care and to have what Southern Cross did in such a callous manner was devastating.”

Chief executive of Southern Cross Care, Helen Emmerson, said the operator was “extremely sad to exit Harden and Bombala, but when you’re a not-for-profit dedicated to providing quality aged care in this climate you’re forced to make tough calls”.

“It‘s very difficult to recruit aged care nurses anywhere, but in Harden and Bombala the task was impossible and we had a responsibility to face up to that reality,” she said.

Ms Emmerson, a registered nurse herself, said attracting health staff “is by far the toughest challenge aged care providers face”.

The Dracopoulos family are among many struggling to find care where they live in the regions. Picture: David Rogers

“Modern quality aged care demands staff and there simply aren‘t enough candidates available to fill the roles that are open,” she said.

“The workforce crisis becomes much more acute when you operate in the regions. Another challenge is finding suitable accommodation for staff wishing to relocate to regional areas given the housing crisis.”

NSW Regional Health Minister Bronnie Taylor said the closures at Bombala and Harden pointed to a worsening health crisis in the bush.

“The last federal government have a lot to answer for in how they let aged care evolve to this,” she said.

“This is not a problem of the current government’s making – but it’s a problem of the current government’s fixing and we need a firm plan to transition these people into the proper standard of care.”

“If the Federal Government can’t provide the plan, then fund the state government and we will.”

“When you’re in a hospital, the lights go on at 7am, there’s rounds to be done, medicine to be given out … it’s not the right place for them to be. It’s not a home.”

Aged care is among the issues facing Regional NSW to be discussed at The Daily Telegraph’s 2022 Bush Summit.

A spokesman for the Federal Minister Aged Care, Anika Wells, said the government is “determined to put care back into aged care, particularly in regional areas”.

Labor won Government with a suite of election promises – including pay rises for aged care workers and the mandating of a registered nurse being on site 24/7 – but for tiny communities like Bombala and Harden, any reform is already too late for those impacted.

“Following nine years of Liberal neglect, aged care is in crisis and we recognise there are significant challenges in regional NSW in particular regarding the need to grow and support the workforce,” he said.

The Daily Telegraph’s 2022 Bush Summit will be streamed online live and free on Friday August 26. Register to watch here: https://bushsummit2022-dailytelegraph.splashthat.com/

Originally published as Bush Summit 2022: The aged care crisis devastating the bush