Labor’s aged care funding boost takes us halfway to quality care

Delivering quality aged care will require about twice as much as the political parties are committed to spending, advocates say.

Labor’s new $2.5bn aged-care election pledge to boost nurse numbers, hours of care and ­improve nutrition in nursing homes goes only halfway to fixing the ­ailing sector and won’t help the immediate staffing crisis, ­advocates warn.

And a looming wage hike for more than 200,000 aged-care workers remains an unknown ­additional financial commitment, despite Anthony Albanese’s promise to fully fund it.

In his budget reply on Thursday, the Opposition Leader said a Labor government would “put the care back in aged care”, outlining funding for a range of initiatives to either deliver or speed up the ­delivery of key recommendations made by the aged-care royal commission early last year.

These included bringing forward the timeline for all aged-care homes to have a qualified nurse on site at all times, increasing the hours of care per resident to 215 minutes a day, including 44 hours from a nurse, and mandating nutrition standards for meals.

Aged-care provider spokesman Paul Sadler from Aged & Community Services Australia said while the extra funding was welcome, it fell short of what was needed to bring the sector up to scratch.

“The $2.5bn commitment over the (four-year) forward estimates builds on top of the $18.5bn the government committed in ­response to the royal commission last year, (a total of) around $20bn,” Mr Sadler said.

“The royal commission found we were underfunded in aged care to the tune of $10bn per annum, so the commitments from both the ALP and the government cover about half what is required.”

Australian Medical Association president Omar Khorshid said Labor’s funding pledge was “a ­pretty small amount of money (and) I’m not sure how much difference that’s really going to make”.

But Mr Albanese received the backing of physiotherapists and the unions. Australian Physiotherapy Association president Scott Willis welcomed Labor’s “commitments on integrity, and accountability, and new funding to better support the aged-care sector”.

United Workers Union aged-care director Carolyn Smith said Labor’s plan “addresses years of neglect experienced by aged-care residents and aged-care workers alike”.

“Aged-care workers have faced pay so low they report ­hardly being able to afford to drive their cars to work, pay for power bills or make appointments for ­essential medical treatments,” Ms Smith said.

Anthony Albanese has promised a boost for aged care. Picture: Gary Ramage

Dr Omar Khorshid is not sure how much difference the Labor plan would make. Picture Dean Martin

Mr Sadler also raised concerns about the immediate future of residential aged-care centres, given a serious workforce shortage.

“Aged care is entering a pretty scary period of uncertainty through the election,” he said. “The immediate workforce crisis that is having a real impact on care and our dedicated care workers right now.”

With a union claim for a 25 per cent pay rise before the Fair Work Commission, on its most conservative estimate worth $2bn a year and up to $15.7bn if adopted with the extra staffing required to deliver four-star quality care, a war of words broke out about who would back it.

Mr Albanese said Labor would support the union’s case at the commission and fully fund the outcome.

While the government didn’t adopt a royal commission recommendation to join unions and providers to propose a pay case to the FWC or make its own submission, Scott Morrison said the government would abide by the FWC’s final ruling.

“We’ll have to ensure, working with the industry, that Fair Work Commission decisions are honoured,” the Prime Minister said.

Mr Morrison also questioned whether there was the supply of nurses available to meet Mr Albanese’s proposal for 24/7 coverage in nursing homes. “Nurses are hard to find,” he said. You could see facilities close … because of their inability to get nurses.”