December 2018
This submission was developed by AHPA in response to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee Inquiry into the Effectiveness of the Aged Care Quality Assessment and accreditation framework.
AHPA’s submission asserts that the current Australian aged care system is failing older consumers, particularly those living in residential aged care. A range of current and previous inquiries have revealed significant issues, not only in individual aged care facilities such as Oakden in South Australia, but within the broader structures and systems that make up the aged care sector. Those issues are contributing to poorer outcomes for older people and their families.
While this submission focuses on the Inquiry’s limited terms of reference, we argue that the funding structures used to support operations at Oakden were a major contributor to the quality issues within that facility, including the inability to attract high quality staff to fill allied health positions.