Allied health in residential aged care from bad to worse since Royal Commission
The new Commonwealth funding scheme for residential aged care facilities, the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC), is causing devastating allied health job losses across residential aged care facilities, contributing to poorer health outcomes for residents.
Allied Health Professions Australia CEO Bronwyn Morris-Donovan said that a new survey shows that residents will suffer because of the funding scheme. “Government has not set any allied health benchmark or targeted funding, and residential aged care is already starting to see serious impacts on both the workforce and consumers,” she said.
Allied health professionals such as physiotherapists, occupational therapists, dietitians and speech pathologists, provide crucial services to help aged care residents to maintain or improve their ability to move, communicate, and live their most fulfilling lives. Where these interventions are used successfully in a multi-disciplinary team, the results can not only dramatically improve quality of life, but also reduce the need for further costly medical interventions and care.
Two in every five allied health professionals working in residential aged care say their job has been affected since the introduction of funding reforms on 1 October, a new survey has found. More than one in eight have lost employment, with another 30% expecting to leave the sector due to reduced hours and other significant changes to their working conditions.
“We welcomed the finding by the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety that allied health plays a crucial role in ‘reablement/restorative care’ – helping to maintain older people’s wellbeing and function for as long as possible,” said Ms Morris-Donovan.
“But we know the average amount of allied health care has gone down even further from the 8 minutes per day found by the Royal Commission – to just over 5 minutes. The way the new funding model has been implemented has failed to address this and so allied health provision has now gone from bad to worse – it certainly can’t perform its restorative role.
“The loss of allied health practitioners in residential aged care has been swift and drastic - and is likely to have long-term negative impacts on residents and the rest of the care team who rely on them,” said Ms Morris-Donovan.
“The impact will cost the government more in addressing worsening complications, falls, fractures and hospital admissions. “The government has said it will review the impact of the AN-ACC after 12 months. It will be too late by then. Once skilled allied health professionals have left the sector, it will be difficult to get them back.” Despite convening a second round of aged care workforce roundtables in Canberra today, the government will not engage with the allied health sector directly about the impact of its reforms in residential aged care.