More jobs to be lost in aged care industry, says chief exec

MORE aged-care jobs will have to be cut because of changes to the aged-care industry and the way it is funded, says the head of St Andrew’s Village in Ballina.

MORE aged-care jobs will have to be cut in the future because of changes to the aged- care industry and the way it is funded, says the chief executive of St Andrew's Village in Ballina.

Pip Carter employs more than 220 people at the 117-bed residential facility and in the provision of home-care services to the community.

He said he had serious concerns about reforms to the Living Longer Living Better program and in particular the Aged Care Funding Instrument.

He said for his organisation to be sustainable and continue to provide services, he would now be forced to consider reducing staff hours.

"St Andrew's has reviewed its services to ensure our operations are effective and efficient, but we have reached a point where our viability is at risk," he said.

"My concern is if we reduce staff hours it is likely to have an impact on the quality of care being provided.

"The industry needs to be appropriately resourced to ensure the quality of care is maintained.

St Andrew's has reviewed its services to ensure our operations are effective and efficient, but we have reached a point where our viability is at risk

"There are providers who have accepted the Government's reforms and while some of the reforms are fine, it must be resourced appropriately.

"The devil has been in the detail.

Mr Carter said that the in 2008 the first reductions in real terms occurred when the Government stopped the annual 1.75% increase in the Conditional Adjustment Payment.

He also said the funding indexation had been inadequate for years and in the 2012/2013 financial year the Federal Government gave no increase to aged-care providers at all.

Concerns have also been raised about the new Daily Accommodation Payment and Refundable Accommodation Deposit, which come into effect from July 1 next year.

"I am sure that consumers are unaware of the costs proposed to them for the services to be provided," he said.

"The additional paperwork for providers is also of concern."

Page MP Janelle Saffin said Mr Carter was the region's "best aged-care advocate".

She said she would meet with him this week to see if she could help address some of the concerns he has about the industry.

"I also want to discuss community-care packages with him," she said.

"I managed to get more to our region, after my office did some analytical work, but not spread as evenly as I would like in the Department of Health and Ageing's allocation."

The Nationals' candidate for Page, Kevin Hogan, said he would raise the issues with the shadow parliamentary secretary for health.

"We are not okay with the legislation favouring larger providers over smaller ones.

"We want to know what legislative changes service providers want," he said.