Morrison warns of aged care challenges, after calling royal commission

AFTER calling for a royal commission, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has outlined why aged care has become such a challenge for the nation.

ELDERLY Australians are staying in their own homes for longer than ever before, giving themselves more time alongside their children.

But today, Prime Minister Scott Morrison warned that positive change to older Australians’ lifestyles was also causing “a big gear change”, and placing unprecedented strain on residential care facilities.

“Because people are staying home longer, they are coming into aged care when their needs are more acute,” he told news.com.au.

“And that’s a fairly big gear change from where residential aged care has been, and had demands placed on it, in the past.”

People entering care at a younger age are comparatively healthy. Those who stay at home for as long as possible are more expensive and difficult to care for.

“There used to be more of a softer entry into residential aged care with the acuteness of people’s needs,” the Prime Minister said.

“That now has sharpened up a lot. And so when people are coming in they are adding a much higher level of care.”

There’s another problem too. Mr Morrison said there was “a sociocultural demographic bubble coming through on the make-up of the population”.

In particular, it is creating fresh burdens on facilities looking after immigrant Australians, who often lose their English and revert to the languages they were born with as they age.

“This is the first time when you are seeing more Australians from different ethnic backgrounds coming into the aged care sector than you’ve ever seen before,” Mr Morrison said.

“When you are suffering from dementia, often you revert back to your childhood.

“And you’ve spoken English your entire working life in Australia and all of a sudden you’ve gone back to speaking Greek, or Italian, or Arabic, or Chinese, whether it’s Mandarin or Cantonese, whichever.

“And so the system has to deal with that too.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison during Question Time today. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

The consequences will be considered by the royal commission the Prime Minister announced on the weekend, and which he said today would look at looming issues in the sector.

Older Australians are being assisted to stay at home instead of moving into residential care in far greater numbers than before.

The number of stay-put elderly will grow from 40,000 to 73,000 over the next four years, Mr Morrison told news.com.au today — an 80 per cent increase.

However, when they have to move into residential care they can arrive with serious problems such as advanced dementia.

Mr Morrison said it was a hard issue for families who had looked after parents and other elderly relatives at home.

“But they are also recognising they need facilities that can support them,” he said.

Originally published as Morrison warns of aged care challenges, after calling royal commission