Most aged-care facilities resist voluntary standards

Less than 10 per cent of aged-care services have adopted voluntary standards relating to care of residents in nursing homes.

A new report by accountants StewartBrown reveals almost half of residential aged-care services are in deficit with more than one in five suffering cash losses.

Less than 10 per cent of aged-care services have adopted voluntary standards relating to care of residents in nursing homes more than two years after the federal government introduced the program, and data about whether they have been met is still not public.

The standards cover unplanned weight loss, pressure injuries and the use of physical restraint in homes, but at the end of last year only 9 per cent of services, or 230 facilities, were participating in the program that began in January 2016.

The Australian revealed this week the number of services that had put residents at “immediate risk of severe or serious” harm had doubled in less than a year.

The proportion of services that failed assessments of the 44 mandatory standards also rose sharply as the sector continued to grapple with stagnant government subsidies.

A new report by accountants StewartBrown — the firm is highly regarded in the sector — reveals almost half of residential aged-care services are in deficit with more than one in five suffering cash losses.

“This decline is directly attributable to the COPE (commonwealth payments) freeze for the 2018 financial year, amendments to the Aged Care Funding Instrument effective from 1 January (last year) coupled with escalating direct care costs,” the report says.

Care costs in nursing homes are funded through the ACFI which was the subject of a $1.2 billion saving in last year’s federal budget.

In the 2016-17 financial year, according to the Department of Health, the fund grew by 2.1 per cent.