Aged care RC shake-up chance to revitalise industry says CEO

The CEO of a leading aged care provider says the Royal Commission into the sector needs to look deeper than poor quality care to the real issues.

Improving the quality of aged care will only happen if the recently announced Royal Commission can identify and fix structure problems says a Clarence Valley aged care CEO. Picture: Obencem

A LEADING Clarence Valley aged care provider says the terms of reference for the Royal Commission in Aged Care are an opportunity to revitalise the reputation of the industry.

The CEO of Clarence Village Inc, Duncan McKimm, has written to Federal Aged Care Minister Ken Wyatt, outlining his views on what needs to be done in aged care.

"Clarence Village firmly believes the primary aim of the Royal Commission must be to define the community and family expectations of the aged care industry” Mr McKimm said.

"Naturally, these expectations must then be considered against the funding available to meet them. We believe this is a necessary first step to achieving real progress.

"We believe the secondary aim of Royal Commission should be to investigate the compatibility and congruence of the existing regulatory and funding systems in aged care. Ideally this investigation would focus on identifying areas where these systems are in conflict, as well as ways to harmonise compliance with the provision of funding.

"We believe this represents a significant opportunity to deliver benefit to residents and ensure quality, funding and compliance outcomes are not at crossed purposes in this crucial sector.”

Mr McKimm said the Royal Commission would identify areas of poor practice in the industry and he welcomed any improvements that can be made in residents' lives.

But he said there were structural elements in the industry, which the government also needed to address.

"With the government limiting the supply of aged care beds and aged care packages, it creates an environment where consumers can't punish poor providers,” he said.

"In addition to the very real, human consequences of service denial, surely nobody believes that capping aged care beds and home care places improves care quality?”

Originally published as Aged care RC shake-up chance to revitalise industry says CEO