Older Persons Advocacy Network finds aged care getting worse, elderly stuck in hospitals

Australians have reacted to a new report that found hospitals are housing elderly patients in hotels while aged care facilities cherrypick residents. See what they said and have your say.

Exclusive: Elderly people are being put up in hotels by overburdened hospitals and are being chased by debt collectors, in alarming signs that the aged care system is in crisis.

An exclusive report out today paints a bleak picture of the aged care system, which costs the taxpayers more than $36 billion a year, but is leaving vulnerable members of society struggling without help.

In a concerning new trend, residential facilities, which in some parts of the country are nearly at capacity, have begun screening potential new residents and rejecting those deemed more ‘difficult’, including those with mental illness, dementia, and even those who are obese or smoke.

The ‘Presenting Issues’ report by the Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) highlighted one case where a person was rejected by 21 different facilities.

Older people are waiting months for access to aged care services.

Meanwhile, delays in providing Home Care Packages, means thousands of older people are ending up in hospitals in crisis situations, but then can’t be discharged because there’s no aged care bed or support in place at home.

In some areas, hospitals are taking drastic action to reduce bed blocking, by transferring people ready for discharge to hotels, hostels or private hospitals on the taxpayer, while they wait for access to services.

Older hospital patients in South Australia are being transferred to the Pullman Hotel in Adelaide while they wait. There are currently 829 patients in NSW public hospitals waiting for a spot in residential aged care, while others have been put up in private hospitals for free.

Craig Gear OAM is CEO of the Older Persons Advocacy Network.

News Corp readers pointed the finger at the Albanese government.

“Albanese appointed himself as the Aged Care warrior who was going fix this sector. His words were “this isn’t right it’s not Australian”. Once he secured the votes off people’s heart strings Albanese vanished. All of the health care nurses never materialised and Albanese abandoned our aged care citizens,” said Anthony.

Reader Lost said: “Albo never disappeared he has hidden away as changes to legislation are enacted to raid the assets of every person in aged care who has Superannuation or cash from the sale of a house.”

ben said: “Rather than wasting money on net zero, redirect funding from fanciful lies and creating new billionaires and place money into looking after our elderly population. God knows they deserve better than what they are getting now”.

Others said the focus should be on helping the elderly stay at home rather than be institutionalised.

The Albanese government is under pressure to act on aged care.

“Nobody wants to get old and so many are dealt such a bad hand. It’s not always their fault. If the elderly were helped more in their home it would cost the government less and not so many beds in hospitals would be taken up,” said Gob.

Melissa agreed: “I would rather wither away to nothing at home in my own arm chair than live my final days under control of bureaucracy and government”.

OPAN chief executive Craig Gear said things have got worse due to a “confluence of issues coming together”.
He said more than 52,000 people contacted them for help in the last financial year, an increase of almost a fifth on the previous year.

“This is a stark reminder of how much work remains to be done to ensure some of the most vulnerable in the community are afforded adequate rights and protections,” Mr Gear said.

Carolanne Barkla, CEO Of Aged Rights Advocacy in South Australia said supply has not kept up with demand.

“We have a very wicked problem,” Ms Barkla said.
“Aged care homes are able to select who they want.”

Chief Executive of the Aged Rights Advocacy Service Carolanne Barkla.

Other issues highlighted in the report include an “increasing number of reports of HCP providers engaging debt collection agencies with aggressive “scare tactics”.

The report found that providers failed to discuss arrears with the elderly person first or check if the charges were correct, which in some cases they were not.

Mr Gear said it was concerning, especially with the introduction of the new co-payment system about to come into effect.

The report also raises serious questions about the Albanese Government’s introduction of the new Single Assessment Service late last year, designed to simplify access.

Complaints revealed that government contractors were poorly trained, lacked understanding of the aged care system, and were providing people with wrong information.

And, it found too many people being assessed by phone instead of face-to-face, leading to their needs being inadequately evaluated.

A spokesman for the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing said the Government is delivering once-in-a-generation reforms to aged care to build a high-quality, respectful and sustainable system that puts older Australians at the centre of their care.

The new Act, which was pushed back from July 1 to November 1, will include a Statement of Rights for older people and a Statement of Principles to guide how providers and workers must behave and make decisions.

The spokesperson said delayed discharge of older patients from hospitals is a complicated and longstanding issue and the department is constantly considering pathways of care for older patients, other than residential aged care being the default discharge destination.

It is also warned providers to ensure their participants are invoiced accurately and in a timely way to reduce the risk of a person accruing a debt.

“Anyone facing difficulty in meeting their aged care costs can apply through Services Australia for financial hardship assistance,” the spokesperson said.

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Originally published as Older Persons Advocacy Network finds aged care getting worse, elderly stuck in hospitals