Care for elderly ‘worse in the bush’

Rural Australians should be ­receiving better access to aged care than those in the city, the aged care royal commission has heard.

Rural Australians should be ­receiving better access to aged care than those in the city because of their age and health profile, but are receiving poorer care, the aged-care royal commission heard on Monday.

Counsel assisting the commission, Peter Gray QC, said ­despite the Aged Care Act providing for special measures to support people living in remote or rural areas, “the evidence indicates that these measures are not achieving their intended purpose”.

“People living in rural, ­regional and remote communities of Australia ought to have the same level of access to aged care as people living in metropolitan areas, and the aged care they receive must be safe and of high quality,” Mr Gray said at the commission’s hearing in the NSW central west town of ­Mudgee, beginning a week of evidence into rural and regional aged care.

He said on a per capita basis, the need for aged care was higher in rural Australia because the ­average age profile was older, the health profile was worse, there was a higher rate of disability, and there was a higher proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who generally required aged care at a younger age. “However, as with other ­social and health services, availability of aged care in regional and remote areas compares poorly to its availability in urban areas,” Mr Gray said.

He said there were fewer residential aged-care places and community aged-care places per 1000 people in regional and remote areas compared with the cities, and higher numbers of days in hospital for those waiting for a nursing home place.

“People wait longer for Home Care Package services, ­especially for higher-level packages, and in particularly remote areas these services may not be available at all,’’ Mr Gray said.

Last week, the commission ­tabled to parliament its interim report, in which aged care in Australia was described in many cases as “cruel and harmful”. Mr Gray said the commission had entered a “new phase … to develop options for a fundamental redesign of the aged-care system”.

He said the commissioners should consider recommending a study into the subsidies needed to ensure aged-care services were equitably funded in rural and regional areas.

“Rural and remote Australians make a huge contribution to the nation and deserve a first-class aged-care system,’’ Mr Gray said. “Regrettably, the evidence suggests they are not getting that first-class system. We intend using the hearing to find ways to remedy this.’’