Many of my recent clients have been those seeking permanent care in a residential aged care facility. Often the family call me when they’re overwhelmed, exhausted and feel as though they’re getting no where. They have usually contacted a few facilities (who have advised they have no beds) and feel at a loss of where to go next.
Whilst I don’t have a magic wand that can make beds appear, I can help guide families through this stressful time and hopefully ease their load. A lot of my role has become expectation setting, so they understand the system we’re working with. Our aged care system is under extreme pressure and whilst we’ve been warned for many years of Australia’s ageing population, I feel we’re starting to feel the impact even before we reach the ‘silver tsunami’.
For this reason, the theme I’ve chosen for September is
Aged Care Bed Shortages.
As a placement consultant, I often receive availability updates from major aged care providers. Last week I received an email from one of our largest providers in SA advising that across their 12 sites with 1028 beds, they had two vacancies - that’s a 99.8% capacity. Another provider the week prior shared that over their 6 sites with 582 beds, they had four vacancies - a 99.3% capacity. Another large provider I spoke with verbally advised they were at 98% capacity. Whilst these examples are all based in South Australia, all you need to do is Google ‘aged care bed shortage’ to see similar sentiment echo’d across the country.
SO, WHY NOT BUILD MORE FACILITIES?!
I really wish the answer was so simple. Firstly, new aged care facilities cost millions to build. Even back in 2004, the National Aged Care Alliance estimated that each room in an aged care facility cost $80,000.00 to $120,000.00 (not including land and many fit out costs). These figures have increased over time, with 2014 budget put together by Caulfield Krivanek Architecture estimating a 60 bed facility would cost $12,174,000.00 ($202,900.00/bed).
‘But I pay a $550,000 refundable deposit for the room, plus daily fees, plus additional service fees etc etc. How can they not be making millions?!’
HOMES ARE OPERATING AT A LOSS
I know this might sound shocking, but the majority of aged care homes in Australia are operating at a loss. Unfortunately, day-to-day operation and maintenance of aged care facilities is not cheap.
According to the July 2024 Stewart Brown report ‘Aged Care at the Crossroads’, the residential aged care sector has been operating at an aggregate loss of $5 billion over the last five years. These losses lead to less investment in new infrastructure and technology which directly impacts bed availability and arguably standards of care. Stewart Brown predicts that whilst currently over 50% of facilities are operating at a loss, this is projected to increase to 75% if there is no immediate funding reform. With 47 residential aged care providers exiting the sector between October and December 2023 (with only 11 new ones entering), this will inevitably lead to further home closures.
If there’s no major funding increase, Australia is projected to be a 21,200 beds short by 2030.
FLOW ON EFFECTS
As a side note, but a very important one at that… the flow on effect of no aged care vacancies, is hospital blockages. A recent report in Tasmania estimated 10% of their hospital beds were being held up by aged care or NDIS clients awaiting appropriate placement. Anecdotally I know the same thing is occurring in Adelaide, with many of my patients going from hospital to aged care facilities, some waiting up to 5 months to find availability.
The other flow on effect of low vacancy rates is increased risk of inequitable resident selection. Whilst AN-ACC aims to incentivise providers to care for more complex clients through increased funding, if a provider has a single vacancy and 12 applicants to choose between, they can be very selective about who they choose. This means clients with more ‘challenging’ care needs e.g. bariatric, complex behaviours, non-English speaking, are often disadvantaged and much harder to place.
SO, WHAT CAN WE DO?!
Speak with your local politicians
I know this sometimes feels redundant - what difference is one letter to a local MP going to make? However, the more this issue continues to be raised, the more the Government will need to listen. We need major funding reforms and we need them yesterday. With aged care homes taking 5+ years to build, we need the funding now so that we can start creating homes for the future.
Proactive application
When I say proactive, I don’t mean apply for a home if you’re independent in the community. Facilities don’t want your name on their waitlist unless you’re ready to go now. What I do mean is the second you think it’s time to move, get applying. If you’re in hospital and know it’s not safe to return home, start applying ASAP. Hospital placements teams are at capacity and equally struggling to place clients. If you want to have some say over where you go, find a placement consultant (hi 👋🏼) and get some help applying for facilities in your preferred area.
Realistic understanding of options
After reading this newsletter, you should now be aware of the significant shortage of aged care beds. This means a few things… Firstly, unfortunately there is less choice about where you want to move. You may have always hoped you’d be placed in the facility down the street, but if the vacancy doesn’t come available at the right time, you’re going to have to expand your horizons.
I tend to encourage clients to create three ‘catchment’ areas:
1. What is your ideal location?
2. What is the furthest you are willing to travel?
3. What is a definite no?
This usually gives us a radius to work within and then I apply like crazy to anything in that area.
4. Consider moving homes later if needed
This is not ideal and I wouldn’t recommend as Plan A. However, if you have no option but to move into a less preferred facility initially, you could still keep your name down on a waitlist at another home. It’s important that you understand the details of your contract with the current home, as each facility will require different notice periods.
This is a messier and less straight forward approach, but it’s one that I believe will occur more frequently as people have less choice on initial admission.
There are more details regarding moving facilities here.
If you have any questions about applying to aged care facilities, please feel free to send me an email. Even if you don’t require my paid services, I’m always happy to help point people in the right direction.
I teased a while ago that my podcast ‘The Truth About Ageing’ would be coming back soon… this is still something I’m eager to do, however business priorities have come first. You can still access the full back-catalogue of episodes through your favourite podcast app (Apple Podcasts, Spotify) or at www.navigateagedcare.com.au/podcast
Occasionally I also post updates on socials, which you can find at:
Facebook - @navigateagedcareau
Instagram - @thetruthaboutageing
Big love,
Kate.
If you’d like to chat about your unique situation and gain a better understanding of options available to you, please book a free 15 minute consult via the ‘Book Now’ button below.
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